I disagree, to a point,
I believe that this hobby (sport?) is progressing pretty much the same way that full-scale aviation has done. At the very beginnings of full-scale flight, if you had the dream to fly, then you had to concoct your own-designed flying machine, like the Wright Bros. did. That's all there was, so you invented. That progressed on and then companies sprang up that started designing and manufacturing aircraft. Today, a full-scale "sport" pilot surely isn't expected to build his own airplane, though he could with as many kit planes as are out there.
With models, the same is true. At first, people carved their own planes and flew them. Then, being the capitalist entrepeneurs we are, we saw a need for kits, that had most of the pieces shaped and somewhat ready to use. This has naturally lead to the ARF's and ARC's of today.
I do agree that building some kits is beneficial. You learn why it flies and not just how it flies. You also have a better idea of how to fix it if you know how it went together. I have built kits and also own a couple of ARF's. Personally, I'm not a builder. I don't like long, laborious hours shaping and carving and turning a box of sticks into a plane. But that's me. I'm not a patient person as I suspect a large part of today's society isn't either. But I think that the whole thing is progressing along as far as technology and the need to make a sale will allow. Whether this is good or bad, who can say?
All I want to know is, who picks these gaudy trim schemes on these ARF's?[X(]

Jesse