America likes to pride itself as being an egalitarian society, of which if it really was, than there would not nearly be the wide chasm of disparities that we see in regards to income, education, wealth, crime, neighborhoods, and just about anything of real merit within this country. What exacerbates the problem of ever achieving true equality of income and opportunity within America is the fact that how a given child starts off in their life, makes a profound material difference in that outcome of their life. That is to say, those that are born within families that do not own a home, that are single-income, have someone blood related that is currently or has been incarcerated, live within neighborhoods that are classified as low-income and crime infested, and go to schools, that aren't worthy of even being classified as a school of education, do not, in many cases, fare well in life in regards to positive or meaningful achievements.
Certain pundits are fond of stating that America is the land of opportunity, and that those that pull themselves up by their bootstraps are the very ones that go from the outhouse to the penthouse. Sure, there are always going to be situations in which good people are able to somehow overcome incredible disadvantages; but, alas, in a significantly high percentage of those cases, those people that were able to overcome such, were able to do so by having within their structure the good force of a great soul within their milieu, that provided them with the stability, encouragement and the wherewithal to stride forward and to become something of consequence, despite being surrounded by a turbulent sea of trouble.
The bottom line is that those that are born disadvantaged are in a seemingly hopeless situation, for when a child's potential is effectively snuffed out before they have even entered a school of learning -- their potential to be someone of merit, is severely damaged. Further to the point, all those children that are living in disadvantaged circumstances, rely to a very large degree, on those institutions that are independent of their immediate environment, such as schools, social clubs, and medical care; so that, if those schools, for instance, are far below par in educating those students, then each year, those children will as a consequence fall further and further behind their peers in other communities, so that the end result is that these children will be unprepared for anything other than substandard lives of reduced opportunity and listless hope.
Those that are born in impoverished circumstances, of which, everything that surrounds and is part of them, is of very little worth, are, within a very short matter of time, at risk of becoming part and parcel of the very same, sinkhole. In truth, every child born into disadvantage circumstances is at risk, from their very first breath, and the only possible way to materially improve their circumstances of success, besides their own good efforts as well as the value of having good people actively involved with them, is for institutions such as governments and charities to actively make it their point, to do all that is possible to see that these children are given a fair chance to succeed, which means equal access to all institutions and programs that are of quality and of merit, without limitation or restriction.