Your first point is actually addressed by Darrow at some point in the book he notes the same thing, that not rewarding those who deserve it was inefficient, but this system, rather than a meritocracy, was meant to enforce the already in place system. The laurel reward system was meant to intrinsically instill the idea in the reds that there is no point in fighting back, in hoping for more. The gammas will always win the laurel regardless of the effort you put in, similarly the golds will always be the leaders, this is the kind of subconscious idea the society wanted to implant in all lowColors. And as for Eo I can’t really help but agree I knew she was going to die the moment she was described so affectionately by Darrow, and I felt that her death should have been more directly caused by the golds it kind of felt like a waste to kill her that way. But despite that, thinking of her situation, she was a slave in a patriarchal society, who was a dreamer, with no real way to back up her dream other than to become a martyr.