he had no report card as evidence that he had been to school before
unlike other kids, he was not worried about his clothes, not his academic performance. His experience in the war had changed him in a way that many of the other kids probably would not understand nor were ready to believe [Paragraph 20-25]
his peers found his British-African English to be awkward [Paragraph 27-30]
he was very observant and liked to take different path to avoid being predictable. This was so unlike his friends. [Paragraph 41]
Juan Thomas means when he says "the structure" is that the poor people are cheated from birth, but they made it through it. He is scared for Kino. It is important to the story because it foreshadows the things that happen to Kino.
