I'm not positive, but I believe that your guess is very close to the truth. For the most part, students who carry A averages tend to study more, and be perceived more as "nerds", which tends to reinforce a lack of social skills, which in turn reinforces less of a desire to socialize. Students with B averages, however, as you said, are more likely to not study quite as much and socialize more, thereby learning networking skills, which are probably more important than what you actually know once you hit the workforce.

My other theory on this is that some employers feel threatened that their new hires might know more than they do, therefore the students with A averages, who have already been pegged as "nerds", might be turned down for jobs that are given to the students with B averages.

I've heard that some schools are so worried about the stigma of being an A student that they're considering mandatory grade deflation, namely the highest grade once could get would be a B.

This is actually a true fact, and I know why. It's not because of the priorities of the student. It is infact a result of over-qualification within the Western education systems. With numbers of students going to do a degree rapidly increasing out of proportion with the work-force and population, employers are quickly finding over-qualified candidates. You would have thought that with an excess of job candidates, the better qualified ones would do better - not so, and in that lies the key. If an employer has a position open and someone who is far over-qualified applies, he thinks that something is suspicious (ie there is a reason why this person is aiming below their capabilities) and rejects the candidate.

Basically it's extremely difficult for someone with just top qualifications to get a job because they can only apply to the top jobs and will be competing with other over-qualified students (thanks to our retarded educational system) for fewer jobs than the second tier of students would be able to apply to. Think of it as a pyramid in the qualifications needed in the work-force (1,000 employees pressing buttons and one making decisions), overlaid onto a bloated educational system where more people are leaving university with top grades than lower grades. This is a result of relaxing exam standards and badly prioritized study techniques (as in; putting as much emphasis on memorising a book for one English Literature exam which will never be of any use to you again - both the book and the book memorising skill - , and remembering and fully understanding an important concept which you will use the rest of your career).

Don't think like that, think about being one step above all the people who are getting easy A grades by adding more interesting qualifications to yourself (eg do a CFA course or an MBA, etc). Problem is with America is that qualifications count for too much, use that to your advantage.

Starlaced that is a strictly european perspective. In america people - starting from high school - who work the hardest get the furthest, simple fact. That's why, combined with excessive energy taxation, your average american worker is 40% more productive than his european counterpart.

Anyone who has spent time in America and Europe can see the difference in work attitudes.

Your future seems written in stone; you're doomed to failure and will be a burdon on your family and society for the rest of your life. Your only hope at this point is to drop out of school.

42 is really the only thing you need to know.

Nah man, what we are saying is that only A grade students need something else to distinguish themselves.... besides, I think we are all A grade students here to be honest.

i don't think, i just memorise things. i shock, disgust, and amaze people with the sort of things my brain is capable of, and the teachers get pretty pissed with me when i correct them.i also give out useless little tidbits of information for absolutely no reason.

and i was thinking of the book, too... English being my best subject and all that, but i have a feeling the guide to the galaxy might already have been done.

I know... i'll do a guide to a different galaxy!

btw does anybody know the Ultimate question yet? if so please tell me