Perhaps these newbies, like myself, were told that they were doing an exceptional job by their very inexperienced instructors, who were only parroting the crap from their twit of a chief pilot.
Part of the problem is who the CFI is, or their instructor. Sadly the George Campbell's and Jack Funnell's of the past are gone now, and it would appear that some of the people providing instruction are insufficiently experienced or equipped for the role.
I see and hear people in the bush (and at major airports) doing and saying things that make me wonder how they ever got a licence. Mind you, we don't have Russ Evans doing CPL tests anymore, so maybe like the Reason model it is a combination of many lapses and latent failures.