This is the United States sentiment of "you should make your own way" when 99% of the time it's all luck.
It's luck based on what race you were born as, gender, social class, geography, family situation, and mental / physical health you end up with. If you're a middle-class white guy from the suburbs of a major metro your "social mobility" into a "tech job in SV" is a bit higher than most people.
Our egos like to think we're responsible for all of our success when most of the time it's luck.
Ah yes, poor because they are not smart. Because the US is a perfect meritocracy. This is ludicrously off the mark and shows how out of touch people really are about how the world works for others.
Having grown up poor I'd say it's not that poor people are not as smart, it's that they are extremely anti-intellectual. I tried my hardest to get family/friends/community into computers (or really any intellectual pursuit). Resistance was extreme to say the least. Reading a book is looked down upon. Computers are for "nerds". I used too many "five dollar words"...
If you want a real view of the situation you have to place some blame on the people making choices holding themselves back. It's not that easy to see if you didn't grow up in that environment though.
Intellectuals can be poor and/or make bad choices too. I know plenty of smart people who are struggling to make ends meet (me included, to a certain extent, and I make 2-3x more than a lot of these people).
But you're right that there is a culture of anti-intellectualism amongst a certain segment of poor people.
But that means that most kids who grow up in that culture are going to absorb those same influences. It doesn't seem fair to then blame them for the society they came from.
I'm definitely not blaming them for anything, if anything that's the parent comment. I would love to find a way to encourage people in those environments. I think some things have been successful at improving that. Sesame Street, as one example (at least according to some documentaries I've watched).
I will say, though, that I went to an average public school and did my best not to draw too much attention to myself because I was one of the smarter kids and would sometimes be picked on. Not usually too bad, but enough that I went through periods of depression during my high school years.
It probably stunted my trajectory (along with some other choices I made) in my career, but I'm doing well enough. It helps that I was naturally interested in computers, which ended up being a route to well-paying jobs, but if I was naturally interested in art more (and I sure doodled my fair share and have released games with art that I've made in the past), I might be one of those poor people that people such as the parent assume to be anti-intellectual today.
Hell, I know a super talented artist and animator that ended up taking a programmer boot camp years later in order to get a better paying job, and it just makes me feel sad, because he deserves to be paid well for following his passion for being as talented as he is, but this world is not set up for that, unfortunately.
You shouldn't blame them, but the exit from poverty is clearly marked STEM and it's really up to the individual to take it. Having come from this culture, the best advice I can give is that focusing on individual responsibility is most helpful. There's general a lot of self-pity and "us vs them" mentality when really the problem is more "us vs us". If you haven't heard of it, check out crab bucket mentality. It's very real and the only way I can see to escape it is to put all of your faith into yourself and your own plans.
It's remarkable this isn't the subject of discussion ever. I'm not saying this would lead to anything productive, but at the same time, it's at the absolute core of the problem.
