Usually the students that go over 70 hrs are well BELOW AVERAGE. I know a lot of people who have got their license with minimum hours or just over them.
It's a sad reflection of someone's ability to see what is important in a pilot if you really believe that to be true.
Time to pass the test means little. Judging a student by the time it takes them to learn rather than their ability to absorb the information and retain it over the long term, becoming a safe pilot, would be a more sensible way of looking at it.
Hopefully it was just a badly worded comment. I'd far rather be in the air with the person who took the time to make sure they got it all right in their mind than the person who rushed it all and forgot it the next month.
If someone can absorb it in 45 hours, great! If they take 70, also great!. If they haven't absorbed it for the long term, that's a problem.
Lafite