The same dynamic is at work in weedout courses during college. High school is in many places a four year weedout course (actually 3.5 years) used to decide who

The same dynamic is at work in weedout courses during college. High school is in many places a four year weedout course (actually 3.5 years) used to decide who goes to college. The obvious question is whether weedout regimens actually burnish skills. In my experience they did to some extent, but most of the effort expended was game-playing to get onto a path which would be easier or more lucrative in the long run. (Example: becoming a medical doctor or tenured professor is harder than it has to be because people are attracted by the prospect of a job-for-life.)