Juxtaposition

On the road to the Ivy League - not bloody likely  

Meritocracy - An elite group of people whose progress is based on ability and talent rather than on class privilege or wealth.

Social Darwinism – a 19th century theory, inspired by Darwinism, by which the social order is accounted as the product of natural selection of those persons best suited to existing living conditions and in accord with which a position of laissez-faire is advocated.

Laissez-faire - a policy or attitude of letting things take their own course, without interfering.

Where does a poor, stealth scholar, non athletic child with a tin ear from the Mississippi delta fit into these concepts? “The Civil War and the civil rights struggle left deep wounds and, even today, some of America's most brutal, entrenched poverty and racism thrives in the delta.” 40% of the Delta's population lives below the poverty line.
Maybe the parents could move to inner city Detroit in order to move up the economic ladder. Detroit's individual rate living below the poverty level is 36.4%; the family rate is 31.3% .
If the family had insufficient funds to make it to Michigan they could always set up in Athens county Ohio where the poverty rate is a mere 32 percent.

Posted by Paul Hunter paulhunter45177@gmail.com.