StHustle

While I get what you are saying........I think growing up in a small rural farming community is a much different experience than growing up a couple short bus rides from a city.......which is what a SUBurb is.

Firebaugh is rural.  

The population is well over 90% hispanic.  The school is almost entirely hispanic.  

The point being........Josh didn't need pop culture or anything external to learn how to relate/communicate with people from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds........he was different every time he left the house.

AND his father employed a lot of the kids and the family members of the kids that he went to school with so he had to be kind and gracious and a lot of other things the average BMOC high school kid does not have to be.

That's likely why he's such an emotionally intelligent guy who always seems to say the right thing.