<p>xiggi, i’m not going to argue with you. I lived for a year at the ENS. I have kept in touch with several Normaliens and visit the school when I’m in Paris. I am well aware that many come from privileged backgrounds. The anecdote about the African American mathematician was a way to show you that not all of them come from typical French elite families. As to that young man’s odds of making it to Harvard, I don’t know. I do know that the schools those boys attended in Compton were dismal, and that the family could not afford to move to more prosperous areas with better schools. They emigrated to Europe (the father had been with the US army in Europe) because they thought their sons would have greater access to good public education there. Considering that one son is a classical musician and the other a highly respected mathematician from one of the leading mathematics program in Europe proves that it wasn’t a mistake trading Compton for even working class Parisian suburbs. Maybe today Compton and surrounding areas offer the working class or the working poor more opportunities. That wasn’t the case then.</p>