I think people who take the time to learn the skills needed to become a pilot are people who can apply themselves to a task and have a level of commitment and can take a certain amount of constructive critisisim.
Thus eliminating 100% of the xfactor 'give it to me on a plate because i saw Top Gun' fraternity.
I read every accident report i can, i think, i analyse, and i try to put myself in the place of the accident pilot and ask the 'what would i do' question.
For instance i now understand very well what frequency bias is after a routine 'take off' with full tanks and a larger than normal passenger, nothing focuses the mind than 50% of the runway gone and 50 Knots on the clock. I learnt a valuable lession.