What does Sal blame for his lack of opportunity in the book, Loving Women: A Novel of the Fifties?

Even though he is the company intellectual, knows Latin, and loves the classics, Sal attributes his wildness to the fact that all Italian guys have to look forward to is the Sanitation Department: "I was the top student in my class, but the Irish priests and nuns never encouraged me to do anything more. I was some kind of freak to them."