I double-agree, and I think you're painting an even nicer picture than the real one.

For lower income families, 'playing hookie' is usually called 'truancy' (which when I think about it, isn't such a nice-sounding term), and usually results in a lack of a college education altogether, leading to very very low (in comparison) paying hourly (and possibly menial) jobs.

I was astounded at the amount that some companies pay interns (I don't mean google, or any of the companies on the the extremes) -- I had some jobs before college, and some entire families subsisted on similar incomes. What did I do with the money that whole families earned (I was an intern at some point)? Buy pizza and beer.

That's true. Other things like convictions for drug use/dealing that make you ineligible for student loans, felony assault convictions that your dad couldn't hire a good lawyer to fend off, etc, also seriously decrease the chances for a poor kid with the same 'rule-breaking' attitude to end up in the same place.