And, oddly enough, the differences between the ethnic and cultural  backgrounds isn't mentioned.  

If you wander up to Redmond, Washington on the Microsoft campus, there seems to be a larger percentage of people from Asia, India, Taiwan and other places where education and learning are more important than they seem to be in the areas around Woodburn, Oregon, for example.

The Vietnamese permitted to come in after we lost that war also seem to have been much more successful in assimilating and succeeding in this country than those who hop the border.  And many of them were from agrarian backgrounds similar to that of the border hoppers.

Culture counts.  As do family values which also are in many cultures.

Look at the ethnicity of the valedictorians and that of the dropouts in large cities in particular.

The Caucasians and other ethnicities are much less likely than those of Asian backgrounds to excel.