weasil, although I agree with most of what you said, a couple of things concern me!
involves mental knowledge not stick & rudder skills.
whilst I agree 'mental knowledge' helps overall, the fundamenal skill that I try to teach is 'fly the plane.' I don't care how good they are theory or nav or basic mathematics, if they can't fly the plane confidently and accurately to begin with, they will spend far too much time 'catching up'
also
A lot depends on the school, and the instructor and to a degree the student.
I couldn't agree more with the first two, however I've flown with a few non-dedicated students who were just throwing money into the fire and no matter how much time, effort and sweat I put in they were never going to learn. A VERY BIG PART is the students attitude and dedication.
Just my two cents
Cheers
GA Driver