So Karen Arnold did research at Boston College,

looking at the success level of valedictorians.

And, in general, high school valedictorians do well.

but they don't actually reach the highest level of success metrics.

The don't become millionaires,

the people who run the world in general.

And that's because what the research found was that

school teaches you to comply with rules.

So valedictorians often go on to be the people who support the system.

They become a part of the system.

They don't change the system or overthrow the system.

And so what we see is that the average GPA,

college GPA, of American millionaires is actually 2.9.

And while valedictorians generally score high in the personality trait of conscientiousness.

What you see among the millionaires with their 2.9 GPAs is they're known for grit.

Maybe they don't comply with rules that well.

but they stick with goals over the long term.

And that's how they do really well.

And sometimes they don't play by the rules.

Sometimes they do things differently.

Because in school, rules are very clear.

In life rules are not so clear.

So a certain amount of not playing by the rule is advantageous

once you get out of a closed system like education.