What does equality of opportunity actually look like? It is not enough to say that the same rules apply to everyone and think that it’s fair. If those rules involve working for free for years just to get a start on your chosen career path then no matter how gifted they may be, many working class hopefuls will never break through that glass ceiling. Children who may be just as gifted (or otherwise) as their middle and upper class counterparts and yet whose parents simply can’t afford it.
It’s not easy to meet your child’s, let alone your childrens’ living expenses in one of our major cities with no income and no guarantee of a job at the end of it. And this on top of the expense of pursuing their university degree and all that that entails.
This is not equality – it’s just another, silent system that keeps working class people ‘in their place’. This is how we come to know our station in life, just as surely as did the teenagers, the ‘baby boiler makers’ who were sold by the workhouses to the mills and the factories in 19th century England. The glass ceiling may not be so dramatic today but it’s just as real.
Left eye view 