Conformity and higher-ed

We complained a lot in grad school about what William Deresiewicz apparently takes aim at here in his new book: namely that the kids we teach are horribly conformist.  But I'm wondering if we just refused to respect these kids' peculiar kind of resourcefulness.   As a critique of the system and how it encourages conformity, Deresiewicz's sense that they aren't weird enough seems apt.  But in thinking about alternatives, what could have been and could be, maybe we have in mind a standard of weirdness these kids just find horribly uninteresting.  Perhaps it's us who are too focused on being weird, and not on getting stuff done.  Deresiewicz seems to think that being better questioners, better rebels and truth-seekers will solve problems, but what if that's exactly wrong?  What if we're holding these kids to an unfair standard?  Efficiency is these kids' best quality--maybe they're on to something about actually shutting up for once and producing things.  Maybe they are makers, not thinkers.  Wondering if that could be a good thing.