growing up in the hood doesn't necessarily mean that you have to go to a poor school. not all public schools are poor. the percentage of poor schools compared to well-off schools is pretty small. even so, going to a poor school does hurt your chances. like you said, you barely had textbooks to learn with. how doesn't that hurt your chances? if you see that your school is all broken down, and nobody gives a !@#$%^&* to fix it, many kids would look at that and say, what's the point? you're underestimating the american education system. you can hold a student back, maybe not physically and directly, but it happens. again, this goes back to the self-fulfilling prophecy. yes, they can make it to high school, it's not that hard. but just because someone makes it to high school, it doesn't make them successful, and it doesn't mean that they're doing exceptionally well in high school. what i'm saying is even more evident in rich schools or schools that have some money. these schools do it more than poor schools, the system is set up to reflect "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer". you got to university through a program, but you're probably a part of a small number of kids from poor schools who do accomplish something in life.