I didn't go to a poor school, but there were poor kids in my school, and being friends with some of them, I know that there wasn't a 1:1 correlation between "po

I didn't go to a poor school, but there were poor kids in my school, and being friends with some of them, I know that there wasn't a 1:1 correlation between "poor kids" and "kids who don't study", there was some correlation. I don't know why, but I don't think it was just because their parents didn't happen to have cash. My totally anecdotal view on this is that looking at income might be the tail wagging the dog. The poor parents tended to have less complete grasps on their lives, which gave the kids fewer role models to figure out what "good habits" were and how they lended to success. These parents didn't have habits of successful people, which contributed to their poverty, as well as the (lack of) habits of their children. The poor kids I knew who were successful academically found other role models, people to explain to them that you can take the SATs twice, and if you spend a couple hours a week studying for them you'll do significantly better, and yes, it is worth the time, etc.