The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that it's not cowardice. It's either insecurity or ignorance. I didn't dodge Advanced because I was afraid of doing a lot of work, I dodged it because I didn't want to commit to something I didn't think I could handle long-term. I'm good at writing 2-5 paragraphs. I enjoy it. I would not enjoy intentionally doubling or tripling that number to meet the "standard," which is misleading. 

The problem is that we have perfectly good, talented, eager writers who just don't fit into the categories or their descriptions. They should probably be in Advanced.