> Are the older ones helping the younger ones? <
Yes. As I noted, homework was a group effort. The parents helped all their kids. And the older ones helped the younger.
And now it’s time for an interesting observation: I taught for a few years at a city high school that was (at the time) maybe 60% white, 35% black, and 5% Asian.
Every teacher there had a “duty” besides teaching. Monitor a hallway, or whatever. My duty was after-school math and science tutoring. It was rare for a white kid or an Asian kid to stay after school for help.
My clientele was almost exclusively black kids.
I still can’t explain that. But I will give those black kids great credit for making the effort.
But I do notice students who do come here from Africa, especially places like Nigeria, tend to be very bright. Of course they probably come from the upper class families there.