When you pull out the best and brightest what does that leave behind? Smart kids who were either not quite at the level to do this program or whose parents didn't support it were left in an even less challenging environment. It did however make attending college affordable for a whole lot of smart, economically challenged kids who otherwise may have never found a way to attend.
As Old Dad pointed out above, the financial incentives are aligned to push kids into the less challenging environment.
I did a lot of game playing with respect to course selection to maximize my weighted GPA.
In fact, economic optimization means that you want to be the top of whatever institution you are at. So, if you want to go to med school, get a 4.0 at State and avoid the Ivies.
Challenge and economic optimization often point to different strategies.
