You aren’t being cynical, you’re arguing with disingenuous entities with money on the line. We already know it’s used primarily for the negative case. Everyone who ever intended High School or College knows this.

Definitely had a sheltered public school experience, took AP stats my senior year and realized all the top students were sharing answers from an earlier period through text messages. After figuring this out I too joined in on the action, then shortly after I quickly deskilled.

Suppose it's good to learn how elastic the brain is, in both directions, at a young age where it doesn't matter.

> at a young age where it doesn't matter.

Doesn't it matter the most at a young age?

Not really. I would rather not find out later in life, with way more responsibilities, that when you purposely neglect mental skills they atrophy quite fast. People already have a hard time noticing that they age, being able to truly self asses is a skill that few, including myself here, possess.