Programming is probably an extreme case, since some people begin it as a hobby in middle school or high school and others go into introductory CS classes having

Programming is probably an extreme case, since some people begin it as a hobby in middle school or high school and others go into introductory CS classes having done no programming at all, but it's not hard to imagine similar factors happening in other subjects. For example, I did well in high school English courses, which I and my peers obviously had years of classes in already—but I also did extra curricular reading and writing, mostly because it was something I enjoyed. Now, would I say natural aptitude is negligible or non-existent, as the headline does? No, I don't think a single study is that definitive (and it did find a difference, just a small one).