And private schools are out of the question for poor children. Scholarships are few in Mexico. Student loans don't exist. The students know all this. They don't care.
Effort is the only thing that matters.
Look at the high school. It was tar paper a few short years ago. But brick classrooms have gone up a few at a time when money came in from parents and the government. Things are still cramped, of course. But the students now can learn on computers just bought by the parents association.