If you have the academic ability you can get anything certificate these days and there was a logical reason for the time consuming system in the old days; the classroom could not teach you about mother nature, especially in her anger, you may theoretically know what a hurricane, typhoon, monsoon is, but until you've experienced them you will never appreciate their raw power, and the required 'seatime' twixt certificates, no matter what department you were in gave you that experience: managing a main engine and generators in a hurricane called for experience and courage, not something you could find on a drawing board, the same for the cook in the galley with all his hot pans and fiddles and still producing meals for all and sundry. For those of us on deck side, we could name all the parts of a derrick in the classroom, but that does not prepare you for a runaway derrick swinging its way across the deck with its trailing guys and preventers, and the taughtness of a backspring feeding round the bitts, that's why we had 'seatime' because those in charge knew that the classroom was no substitute for hands on, and you needed time at sea to appreciate the requirements of your chosen trade and hone your skills. Yes they have very good/excellent simulators these days, but until you've got a few thousand tonnes of steel beneath your feet you realise that no matter how good the simulator, it never gave you that buttock clenching moment when the law of physics takes control and you cannot switch off and start again.
