The problem is that it's a hostile environment that we operate in so you can't afford to give a student looking at a command the benefit of the doubt.
I don't think our environment is hostile by definition. If a very high percentage of candidates fails it becomes politically difficult to maintain that they are all a pack of losers. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result does not work.
This job is not that hard, some are just more talented at complicating it than others. Kumbaya la!