...The other truism is that there must be a higher percentage of good pilots amongst those that went through selection procedures to be sponsored, than those that worked, or paid, their way.
No, I don't think so. The United State’s approach of “license/hire the survivors” has its flaws, but anyone who has spent a thousand hours in a Caravan flying through a Northeastern winter or two has passed through a selection process every bit as demanding as anything a Human Resources Department can cook up.
And the education is very, very real.
Now at the interview the clothing may not be as stylish, and the haircut might be cheap, but the eyes have seen enough ice to know when it is a problem, flown enough real world missed approaches that the next one won't be a shock and are starting to grasp what the radar is showing them. And they have learned to be wary.
This is why Americans value that first 1500/2000 hours or so. On one hand we don't have true cadet programs, but we do have entry level flying opportunities that don't exist in Europe combined with plenty of weather. And this is why, in America, low time FOs in 121 operations are seen as an issue.