There are a lot of first-generation immigrants that live here that work low-paying labor and low-paying service industry jobs (again, nothing wrong with that). It’s been drilled into the kids’ heads (second generation) from kindergarten to succeed and education is the only way up. These children are pushed hard here to ensure they do not struggle the same way. My entire huge friend group that grew up in FFX county were all in the same situation watching parents struggle with language and money but they also invested all their time and money into ensuring that their children succeeded.

They hired tutors and after-school prep classes to ensure that things went smoothly. Homework load was high even in elementary school, students were extremely competitive (high school in this area is nuts with AP, IB, applying to Ivy League colleges), def didn’t bother with sports, and schools aggressively focused on learning. I remember taking the SOLs and that was just considered baseline stuff we had to know and my classmates were zipping through that stuff. The tests that were given in class were way harder. I wouldn’t say rich parents produce educated children as much as it is the amount of time invested, values, culture, and how children are raised play a larger role here.