I agree with everything you just wrote and, yet, kids in this boat commonly have tutoring that drives them even more deviations to the right. In this case, tutoring provides enrichment not remediation and ensures that young Jeff stays on top as their parents are competitive from the start (think 2nd grade gifted identification). Others who figure the competitiveness can wait until high school? They better have the proverbial Michael Strahan* on their hands as their kids are already lapped.
*was athletically gifted but didn’t play high school football until he was a senior.