If OP asked this question in a court of law, the attorney would immediately yell “OBJECTION!” and the Judge would sustain, scold OP, but give them a chance to ask a question that doesn’t automatically pre-suppose and imply that pre-training cannot be “correct” or that there is always a “better” way than pre-training.

FWIW, I often avoid transfer learning or pre-training when it’s not needed, but I’m sure I could construct a problem that is not pathological and of practical importance where pre-training is “optimal” in some sense of that word.