What's all this got to do with race anyway? Just because the person who started the thread gave it a spin that way doesn't mean that this a particularly important aspect of it all.

I don't think a collective attitude on the part of pupils makes them perform worse academically, unless the way they are taught doesn't take account of it. Of course schools all too often are sucked into a culture of education that puts all its stress on individuals competing against individuals, and that must tend to lower standards where people are more collective in their learning behaviour - but that isn't the only way to teach.

It's the same thing you get in music, and one of the ways in which folk music often swims against the tide. Though it's common enough to have that same assumption, that it's one against all competition which is the way to get good music, you also get the opposite idea, in which music is a place where people can back each other up in a supportive way, with the competition side being a kind of game, to add a bit of spice to something that is primarily shared and communal.