As an anecdote, I grew up in Georgia (the state, not the country.) My high school had a <40% graduation rate (seriously), and while some of the AP classes were

As an anecdote, I grew up in Georgia (the state, not the country.) My high school had a <40% graduation rate (seriously), and while some of the AP classes were amazing (because of amazing teachers, one of whom volunteered to teach the class for free), others were embarrassing. In 10th grade biology, the teacher explained that cells were organisms, and asked who in the class knew what an "organization" was. Few hands were raised. Meanwhile in Atlanta, there were bunches of magnet schools filled with bright, special kids. My envy was intense. We didn't even have a fucking physics class. The problem was that our school was poor, because the neighborhood was poor (three housing projects), and schools are paid with property taxes. The projects were built in the Black neighborhoods, since that's how the city was laid out during segregation. There was no school breakfast and a lot of kids didn't get dinner, so school lunch was their only meal and they bombed morning classes as a result. Magnet schools are built where there's money, so kids in the ghettos never get access. That's not meritocracy.