I'm confused. If you're saying that Finns do well in school even though nobody forces them to, then they would seem to fit the definition of excellent students to a tee.
It's worth noting that the students in the article have already expressed some level of interest towards school. Unless they wouldn't be in 'lukio'.
The other part consists of students who are normally thought to be worse in school. In contrary to their lukio peers, they do not have matriculation examination and therefore do not contribute to the statistics shown on the article.
