Considering that the classism in question is considering it strange and amazing that someone who grew up poor (and in a gasp! trailer park) could go on to do science? There's no "acknowledging" classism in this article, there's just straight-out engaging in it and perpetuating it.

Is the classism in question really about being poor?

From my perspective, it is about perpetuating the stereotype that rural people are 'slack jawed yokels'. If this guy was from a vertical trailer park (i.e. a high rise condo unit), we wouldn't think twice about it because, despite being potentially just as poor, he is an 'enlightened city dweller'.

There's a rural vs urban component, but yes, it's about being poor. If he were poor and urban, a similar article would have talked about him growing up in the "mean streets" of some poor neighborhood. It's the same reaction.

Perhaps it's a regional thing then, because where I come from, trailer parks are essentially cottages for the middle class. The poor connotation isn't there, but the lack of population density certainly is.

I disagree. It was classism and credentialism that almost kept him out of science. What's amazing is that through perseverance and luck he overcame that exclusion. The story contradicts the just-world implications of classism, and so I believe this article doesn't perpetuate it; it cuts against it.

Try an experiment. Replace the adjective in question with a race that you feel is being maligned. Does the sentence now make you cringe? Then it is probably classist,

I think the people who point out this sort of thing are usually just trying to illustrate that there's all these gossipy judgements we make of each other and that it happens so often and so consistently that we end up doing it it thoughtlessly.

And then there are the people who think the rags to riches tale is just one of the tools of the rich and powerful. That the token success story keeps the rest of us from doing anything to change the status quo. And so rather than being inspired by them they just get grumpy.