This isn't really true in rural communities. However, this imo is a bigger economy issue than it is an education issue. Truth is that kids as young as 11 and 12 are routinely hired for work in communities like these for the extra income they bring home to their families. Even farm kids on successful farms generally test or drop out of high-school even today. It's just not worth it to spend all day in class when you can be making real money running the farm. And industrialized farms still need as many hands as they can get. What we need to do is take the profit out of basic food stuffs and subsidize it entirely as the basic necessity it is. Same with water and housing. There is no reason to squeeze every drop profit you can out of a venture except greed.