I’m not an expert, but I hiked a bit on the Appalachian trail and have traveled around West Virginia, and have listened to some people talk. I think it’s the first.

Although it’s a severely impoverished area, they still have nuclear families in tact (moms and dads) in the communities, and kids are encouraged to learn. The problem as far as the poverty is the people live in these weird communities were there are no jobs. You could have a masters, but if you live in the woods on a mountain, how the fuck are you going to get a job. There were jobs at one point, but now there aren’t, and the people who had money left, and the people who couldn’t stayed. There houses are worth nothing and run down, and even if they sold everything they own, many could still not afford to go somewhere else.

So doing good in school and getting a scholarship is the only way out, so they value education. People that are stuck don’t have a hope to leave so they just drink and get high, and live simple lives.