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!

But more value for yourself. "It is not to the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker..."