The BoB thread (of interest to all here) makes many references to Robert Roland Stanford Tuck -one of my boyhood heroes. If the "one size fits all" policy had been adhered to he would have been "bowler -hatted" at 10 hours and that would have been a terrible loss to Fighter Command in the coming conflict, as would "Boy" Wellum who later flew with him as the youngest fighter pilot in the BoB.
So, as a member of the luckiest generation (ever) I am grateful to his instructor F/O A P S Wills, and above him, F/L Tatnall and F/L Lywood and the CFI S/L W A B Savile who collectively had the insight, patience, vision (and balls) to "buck the system" and let A. P. O. Stanford Tuck receive 13 hours dual before solo. If this flexibility had not happened to these two gents, (and Gawd knows how many others we may never know of) I suspect that we might be speaking German as our first language in these islands.
Rigid rules are for the maintenance of the lowest common denominater.
Intelligent perception of potential talent is always worth a punt (IMHO).
Ian BB