Low income kids are surrounded by negativity and people with low ambition. I would go as far as to say that ambition is discouraged in poor communities. This in

Low income kids are surrounded by negativity and people with low ambition. I would go as far as to say that ambition is discouraged in poor communities. This includes parents who are not present because they need to make ends meet, kids not getting exposure to the world and what it has to offer. Most of life is experienced through the lens of what is possible and what is impossible. These lens to a large extent are developed by looking at the world around you. If everyone you know never went to college, and pretty much barely survive, you would think that's your lot in life too. Now you have a kid in a shitty school system, whose parents are never around, and everyone surrounding them (probably also products of this environment) try to shit on their hopes to "make it big" or "get out", then you begin to understand a small part of the "why" it is so difficult for even talented people born in the wrong circumstances in america to make something of themselves.