How could being accorded favorable consideration for having been born into circumstances a candidate had no control over be a "qualification" based on "overcoming" those circumstances?
Did you read my reply to you with the track analogy? I don't think the concept of crediting someone for overcoming tougher circumstances is such a hard one to fathom. It happens all the time in sports.
As another example, picture you are drafting for the NBA. You are choosing between two centers. Each is 7 feet tall and athletic. Each had outstanding college stats, in terms of blocks and rebounds, though Center B was much more accomplished when it came to scoring (21.7 points per game over four years, versus 13.3 points per game over three years for Center A).
Center A, accomplished all that despite two handicaps: (1) he grew up in Africa and never even touched a basketball as a child, so he had to learn all his basketball skills in just a few years in college, and (2) he had to compile those college stats playing against elite competition.
Center B, by comparison, had two big advantages: (1) he was playing basketball and getting quality basketball coaching from early childhood, and (2) in college, he ran up those stats against weak Division II opponents, where he pretty much always had several inches on his competition.
So, who do you draft, Center A, with his somewhat worse raw stats but presumably vastly higher next-level potential, or Center B who scored a lot more, but didn't have nearly as much to overcome to get there?
Well, if you answer "Center B," congratulations, you just drafted Earl Jones. He was drafted in the first round in 1984 and rode the bench for two years before flunking out of the NBA. Center A is Hakeem Olajuwan, the 12-time All Star, two-time NBA champ, and first-ballot Hall of Famer.