Defcon,
i agree in many respects with what you say. Some crew have become quite accomplished at talking the talk but not then after being promoted being able to walk the walk.
In my view there is no substitute for experience...a flight attendant will certainly pick up experience but being able to Manage in a skill that is learned over time, and managing as a CSM is a lot more challenging than it appears.
The good CSM's make the job look easy. The incompetent ones are constantly in a flap..Given that some of the current CSMs are totally incompetent as we all know doesnt strengthen the argument for the current system ...LOL
But it HAs served us generally well