Running down the quality of command candidates is misleading and without foundation.The quality of both cadets and command upgrade material is very high. It is not now nor has it ever been easy to pass the Ryanair command upgrade. The expected standard is very high and the time to achieve it is strictly limited, anybody that doesn't is back to the RHS.
Many things make a good captain but some that dont are thousands of hours sat in the RHS watching clouds, flying radar vectored ILS's and 3000m long runways.
How old was Guy Gibson when he was in command of dozens of aircraft and hundreds of men at the time of the Dambusters mission - 24 was he to young/inexperienced/immature. I think not.
To my certain knowledge there is no 'dumbing down' of the upgrade process and it is defenatley not a right of passage. Commands are available for those that want them and are good enough - simple as that.