While I was still in school I joined an event for people that were really good at math, like 1-2 students per school could attend. I think it went for almost a week and then there were subsequent monthly lectures, unfortunately about discrete mathematics which I didn't enjoy that much.
In retrospect, you could definitely see that some people came from bad social backgrounds (and thus didn't wear the best clothes for instance) that were just there because they were so smart. But for instance there was also a guy from a very privileged background who went to private school (yes, clean clothes, confident and good at sports) who was actually a jerk. Anyways, there were also fairly average appearing people.
What I want to say is, I think the whole observation is very skewed. People from not so privileged backgrounds are usually not that visible, but just because of a high IQ might enter opportunities (university, job, social circles) that might be otherwise inaccessible und thus they get into the spotlight.
In retrospect, you could definitely see that some people came from bad social backgrounds (and thus didn't wear the best clothes for instance) that were just there because they were so smart. But for instance there was also a guy from a very privileged background who went to private school (yes, clean clothes, confident and good at sports) who was actually a jerk. Anyways, there were also fairly average appearing people.
What I want to say is, I think the whole observation is very skewed. People from not so privileged backgrounds are usually not that visible, but just because of a high IQ might enter opportunities (university, job, social circles) that might be otherwise inaccessible und thus they get into the spotlight.