marcosthis is pretty interesting, but i feel like the takeaway is that github (more than git at least), has become an industry tool that students feel they need to use productively before they enter the workforce. https://blog.github.com/2018-08-15-classroom-report-predicts-positive-student-learning-outcomes/
specifically, i bet that in 2007 if a blog post came out like this where s/github/rails/g the premise would have also been mostly true and people would have mocked it by making fun of some study paid by microsoft showing high schoolers felt they were more prepared for college when they had ms office training or whatever.
i don't begrudge students that feel the need to have Practical Git Experience (see also http://nsfmc.tumblr.com/post/171349063154/a-checklist-for-computer-science-undergrads ) but "github experience" is very much a weird sort of proxy for lots of other things: working in a team, managing a divergent branches of development, coordinating/reviewing work, project management, etc. those are all valuable, but curmudgeon me definitely puts many of those in the "get you an internship that does both" bucket since those process vary so much between orgs