SOPs are the bare minimums. In said company with so many cadets and such rapid expansion, SOPs are I dare say the only thing thoroughly instructed. Airmanship and common sense are hinted upon but the real emphasis is on SOPs. This has however rapidly created a whole group of pilots who think nothing exists outside SOPs and everything that is not covered does not exist/should not be done - see well known problem with Flemish speaking pilots. However, the aircraft itself does not know that all you know are SOPs and so does the surrounding environment (weather - passengers etc.). As expected there are some rude surprises along the way plus the perfect SOPs are so perfect they go through major annual changes. Need, not optimisation created the SOP religion in the first place until pilots get the necessary experience to know that there is more out there.
That day even SOPs were not followed. Also Company cadets are never taught they in some cases they can abort after V1 and stay in the runway - any runway, they just don't get any training on that. For an F/O to abort with the nosewheel in the air something was not right with the relationship with the Captain on the other seat. I cannot speculate more on this but maybe the combination was not optimal that day. This could be the missing link on what we do not understand.