A lot of the comments I've seen to that effect are rank bigotry (I suppose I should disclaim I myself am from flyover country, extreme SW Missouri, which is culturally part of the South, and for that matter my mother is Cajun).

What's so difficult to believe about people being able to learn through experience? If any of these EDTX judges got reversed on appeal, that would have been a learning experience ^_^.

And dragonwriter's understanding is correct.