For those folks who live in a large enough urban centre, I think you're right. When I was in high school (public HS in Converse, Texas, just outside of San Antonio), I was fortunate enough that most of my classes were AP or honours classes and we were highly intellectually competitive. Those classes that I didn't have AP for were, on the other hand, sheer torture (on many levels).

The introduction of AP and other advanced classes was a godsend for intelligent kids being able to be reaffirmed by their peers. But a lot of kids don't really want to be in school, and like to pick on kids who do. (Which was my experience as one of the "smart kids" at a private school in Charleston, South Carolina.)