While I do think that some cream makes it to the top, this is the kind of selection bias that's common in academia. The professors with tenure love to think tha

While I do think that some cream makes it to the top, this is the kind of selection bias that's common in academia. The professors with tenure love to think that the system is fair. But even if the filters ensure that the tenured are good, it doesn't mean that the filtering process isn't excluding a number of other people who are just as good (or even better). There aren't many slots at each level of the pyramid. Many people are excluded at each stage of the culling.