Incorrect. Human potential is not affected by external stimuli. What is affected is whether or not a person is able to reach the level of success that potential demands. In other words, the environment does not raise or lower the potential in a person, it has no affect on that at all. What is does affect is whether or not the person in question will be able to live up to the potential they have within them. If a person has in them the potential to be a president, they will never become such unless the surrounding environment acclimates to them or they force it to. But whether they "become" president or not, their potential to become such never actually changes. In the same manner, if a person has little capacity to grow on an intellectual level, they will always be a fool regardless of whether they don't go to college or if they attend a prestigious university.
I know how sensitive so many people are in these forums so let me be clear that I'm not insulting anyone's intelligence but making this explanation exceedingly simple. Let's look at George W. Bush for example. He's rich, he's been the president, because he was born into privilege yadda yadda and so forth. However, his intellectual, political, and social potential were all very low regardless of his achievements and his surrounding environment. A person from even the best of environments and a man of great successes could have very little in the area of human potential, just as someone who came from humble beginnings, while achieving little could have in them great potential.