Sorry I'm late replying to this but I think you raise actually a very valid point. I went and read the Feynman article and I have experienced this myself in the Irish education system. People tend to study only for the exam without understanding the problem.

Survivor bias is certainly a factor here and thanks for pointing it out!

As for the affluent people I'm sure that does play in also. The developer i advocated for however was extremely poor and came from the favelas. I only knew about this after and I realize for sure that is the exception but I think it furthers your point of survivor bias!