I would also suggest that in many of the games in which it doesn't present a problem, it is entirely because of player attitude. I've seen games where the monk underperforms, dies, loses a level, underperforms more because he is now lower level, etc, but it wasn't a problem as such, because the player just shrugged and had a good time.
That doesn't mean that monk was fulfilling its party role or performing well, the player just didn't care, and to the degree that he did care, he assigned the blame to luck rather than to the class that he wanted to love.