Born bright and baseball

I finished this book tonight and although baseball is never mentioned, it is on my mind.  When a batter faces a pitcher, the odds are not in the batter's favor.  A season batting average of .300 is considered excellent.  Each batter is allowed three strikes.  C. Nicole Mason was born into poverty.  What does this mean?  She moved frequently, housing was often sub-par. There were times as a child that she was hungry and there was no food to eat.  The schools she attended were underfunded, they had few resources, they employed teachers who didn't believe their students could succeed. Her parents were high school drop outs.  They were teens when she was born. Her parents never earned much money, even when employed, her father spent time in prison, her parents split up when she was young and she didn't have much of a relationship with her father. Other men came in and out of her life as her mother tried to sustain a relationship. Her parents did not promote education or show much interest in her schooling. Her friends and neighbors were in similar situations, there were few high school graduates, kids in her classes were often years behind in school, she lacked information about how to gain entrance to college and how to pay for college.  These are the factors that I can remember off the top of my head. In baseball, three strikes and you're out. How many strikes are fair to kids who are living in poverty?  What expectations are fair for young children who have so little control of their circumstances?  Do they deserve more opportunities than the baseball player?  Seems like Nicole should be given credit for batting 1.000.