As a teacher, I can name at least 50 that are uninterested in excelling. Mostly because they've been conditioned to be that way, usually by parents/community who see no value in education. You can work with them and get them interested, but it takes a lot to undo that conditioning (along with all the other stuff they've endured through their education years of being told "Well, you're just not an X person", etc.). It's also really hard to work with them and get them over that given the current way things are (seeing 150+ kids an hour a day).

It's not the responsibility of and not within the capabilities of the education system to undo the cultural damage that has been done by the worship of sports and crime above all else in popular media. What's needed is a revolution in role models.

I wouldn't say it's just those things, though I agree it's not the schools' responsibilities and that we definitely need a revolution in role models and in our culture.

Reminds me of the Key & Peele sketch 'If We Treated Teachers Like Pro Athletes' [0]

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYOg8EON29Y