I am a practicing veterinarian of over 23 years and a practice owner of over 15 years.  I have seen firsthand the level of clinical competance of the newer graduates, and feel that any and all hands-on experience they can obtain will only make them better veterinarians, clinically more competant, and also command a higher salary out of school.  As a practice owner looking at potential new hires, it is very difficult to hire a new graduate with little to no clinical experience....not only is it very time consuming to teach new graduate employees,  but it can be costly as well, from a monetary standpoint as well as the confidence levels of pet owners who have come to expect a certain level of care from your hospital.  The amount of knowledge needed to be a competant veterinarian is growing every day, and it is obvious that something needs to give from a time perspective in the veterinary curriculum (maybe the students really need to consider "tracking" large animal, small animal, etc), but it should not be removing the all important hands-on learning....this IS veterinary medicine, and if the students are not interested in the hands on aspects, it might be time to consider another career !!!