My point was that at the relatively evidence-free level of discourse seen in the article, we could equally well paint straight-A students as anything from confo

My point was that at the relatively evidence-free level of discourse seen in the article, we could equally well paint straight-A students as anything from conformist (as the article claims) to subversive. In my limited TAing experience, the actual explanation is much simpler: students who do very well in my class tend to do well in their other classes too because they're (as far as I can tell) smart and motivated. Go figure!