Elitism may have gone out in some ways, but not others. While more new pilots came in over the last two decades from working class back grounds, recent trends are showing a move towards the monnied again. Not necessarily the old money, which may have had a code of conduct, too, but the new money with spoilt kids who have never been told "no".
So, while many new cadets are capable and have good maturity and attitudes, we also see those with poor aptitude or attitude. Unfortunately, what we don't see is those candidates with outstanding aptitude and attitude but working class parents anymore. P2F is a selection system based on financial resources, placing suitability second.
For those who console themselves with regarding it as a necessity in the modern world, it is not. If no-one did it, then it wouldn't exist. It is a symbol of the modern "want it now" culture of greed outstripping common sense. It is also a symbol of innate ego that beginners are willing to cough up so much in order to go straight onto jets, not deigning to get their hands dirty on smaller aircraft.
I get it that we have now ended up at a point where most have to TRSS. I don't like it, and regard myself as fortunate to have been in the right places at the right times to avoid it, even though it was already becoming the norm as I came up. And I see the argument that P2F will be the norm like TRSS is. However, if nobody had agreed to TRSS 15 years ago, then it wouldn't exist now. Just because my generation had too many people willing to fund training departments, that doesn't excuse the new generation doing the same (or their parents who should know better). There is a distinction between TRSS and P2F, too - paying for the rating and training is one thing, but paying to work? Really?