Well, I went to a poor school in the south, and then only until the fifth grade. (No, I didn’t drop out, I started college.)
The most “intelligent” (relative) kids tended to be the “popular” kids. There were the “Honor Roll” “popular kids” and there were the ignorant white trash kids. (Not a slight against them, they couldn’t help it.) They never got ahead, languished in mediocrity and felt bad whenever a new honor roll was posted, as they were never on it. It is really more of a testament to the poor state of the American eductional system. But that, however, is a different thread.