I remember being tauntingly called "College boy" senior year by a few classmates. Small town, lots of poverty, majority of my classmates never studied past high school. I didn't react much to it; I felt sorry for them, really. They came from homes that not only didn't stress the value of education, but resented it. And that was the atmosphere these kids grew up in... for the first 18 years of their lives! Every time I think of that I appreciate the fact I had parents who told me I could do anything, if I just prepared myself in school. I wish every young person had that kind of support :/

I experienced the same for being smart in the "wrong neighborhood" in Albuquerque, NM (1990s).

Or in the wrong school. Which of unfortunately causes a revenge of the nerds syndrome.

The movie, 'The Revenge of the Nerds' came out in 1984, after I had left my neighborhood, and for all of its silly comedy, was a sign that things were changing.

My parents and other parents in my poor, working class neighborhood saw education as the way to a better future, not just financially. Intelligence was berated by others in my age group in class. I don't equate education with intelligence, since I have met so many bright people who never finished high school (my father), and so many phDs whose intelligence I question to this day. That piece of paper, a university degree, can be earned with average intelligence, but costs a fortune for most non-public universities. As an acquaintance said to me about his son going to an Ivy league school, 'he's set up for life'. Regardless of his son's IQ, or final GPA, the societal strata he will interact with and form networked connections with, along with the school's reputation, will guarantee him a higher-than-average floor of entry compared to my children. For the record, I am not for that type of education.