<p>I don’t know if there’s an abundance of such kids when one excludes kids who are offspring of immigrants from Asian and Africa (who may have come to this country for the education, and who may be very educated themselves, but unable to get jobs in professional fields here).</p>
<p>What I have seen is that high schools that are in areas with an abundance of low income and blue collar people tend to have very weak AP programs, and that means that even their vals may lack the academic prep and scores to be able to pass at a place like Harvard. For instance, I’ve seen vals from such schools who had top grades, yet section SAT scores in the 400s and low 500s. The factor that most relates to SAT scores is the rigor of the curriculum, and unfortunately not a lot of blue collar and low income students take rigorous curriculum. Even if they are able to take AP courses, the courses may be weak as reflected by the low percentage of students getting passing scores on the APs.</p>
<p>The quality of teaching that low income and blue collar kids get also tends not to be as strong as the quality of teaching that more affluent students get due to the differing strengths of their school systems, which are related to property taxes and parental involvement and sophistication.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, too, the schools that serve low income and blue collar people tend to teach kids to memorize, do exactly what the teacher says, get credit for rote assignments like defining words and outlining chapters, and not think outside of the box or do research papers. Those are not factors that would make one appealing or successful at a place like Harvard.</p>
<p>I have done a lot of volunteer work with all kinds of schools, and have seen first hand the differences in teaching and expectations.</p>