You’re right about the selection bias, there was a competitive aspect in the admission process. But it wasn’t all competition, a brainy owl kid would only need

You’re right about the selection bias, there was a competitive aspect in the admission process. But it wasn’t all competition, a brainy owl kid would only need to rise so high before being swept into the school. I’m pretty sure they would complain. Also they would point out something about learning much better in the evening than morning like the owls do, and that never happened. We had kids complaining about not enough hours in the day, for example. I think there’s a lot of insight to be gained from the pre-iPhone days of various boarding institutions with diffferent selection criteria - STEM, religious, military, arts (?), wealth.