# Educational System in the United States Helps Maintain Class Segregation **Contrary to the common belief of a high upwards mobility in the United States, even gifted poor students have huge disadvantages compared to their better-off peers.** For instance, poor students are more likely to become members of a gang as they live in poor neighborhoods where gang membership is a kind of protection, and gang membership leads to increased likelihood they'll end up in jail themselves. They are also more likely to have to work to put food on the table leaving them with less time to study. Not to mention that parents of poor students are more likely to end up in jail, sending kids to foster homes which is especially stressful at a young age. **All of these reasons cause the tendency of poor kids to be less educated, and so they remain in the middle to lower classes of society. This leads to a less than ideal [[Capitalization of Human Potential]].** Race plays a role too, as Black students are less likely to go into gifted programs than their White peers. See [[Miss Buchanan’s Period of Adjustment]].