This caused me to re-read the original article. The one thing i just dont see mentioned is the class warfare of the situation. C students sometimes just dont want to play the game, they see the game as fake & irrelevant. The use of the learning, the pressure to achieve can feel very so what.

I had an elemntary school teacher that very persistently drilled into us the value of school, of trying, of thinking, that opened doors of perception to geekhood & technology, which got me to start to engage, to think about the value. Ehich i had numberous further crisis of faith over, which made it dismaying when i felt like the educational side of the compact was failing, wasnt as real as i'd hoped.

I wouldnt say this is the majority, but there is definitely a whiff of rebellion, & some of it is super smart, edgy, more connected & wise than the A students. Questioning spending time, questioning trying hard, questioning auhority, not seeing it add up in bigger picture. The original article keeps bring like, 'this weakness is actually helpful', taking at face value more or less that C students are probably just lesser than their A colleagues, but that that struggle has upside, which i think masks a far deeper more important truth, of why some C students are C students to start with.