What do our European friends really think?

1. quote=John Baxevanidis
Dear Jeremy,
Noble as your sentiments and intentions might be, I also think they are rather
"pure and academic". Don't get me wrong I am a "fun" of academia, I have
attended 3 Universities and equally obtained 3 degrees including 2 Master's
degrees in the process. I was born in Greece and brought up by my very poor
single mother. I went to a "run of the mill" state school until I was 17 where I
barely graduated by the skin of my teeth. I had never made the slightest effort
to study until that point in my life. At the age of 18 I came to the UK.
Now I am a "top earner" (according to the statistics), drive an expensive car,
but live in a small 3 bed detached house.
I consider myself to be "from the block", yet at the same time much more
cultured, educated and informed than most people I know.
I know a lot of young people who have no dreams, no aspirations and
consequently they are going nowhere. However, they belong to a "social class"
higher than mine
Can you connect the dots? There were no opportunities presented to me at
any moment in my life. My parents and I "forced" them. Cultural and
geographical idiosyncrasies play a huge role
So yes in median/average/statistical terms there are hundreds of different
factors that "micro-affect" and "micro-influence" classes.
People tend to stick to where they are (in statistical terms at least) because
they are not allowed by "society" to go anywhere else. This is a "macro" factor.
I'm a cynic and a realist and I do not believe any time soon that "society" will
ever allow equality or freedom. If you want to explore the answer to your
question, you have to go back in history to understand it better.

2. Do you really, truly think that a different tax system, policy or law will
eliminate this problem? Think with your heart not your calculator and you will
probably realise that it will not make much difference.
Do the starving and the diseased have equal opportunities in this world? Why
is that? What is the social and economic class of a thousand generations born
in poverty, disease or war? But I know this is a different kettle of fish because I
am referring to an entirely different group of people...different
demographics...different "statistical groups", blah, blah, hence let's not talk
about them...
This country has an educational system which is presented by society as "one
of the best". Yet if you speak to foreign people in education (school or
university) will testify that the level of education in England at least (as I am
not aware of the rest of the UK) is very poor. Schools dish out "tripple" A's or
double stars or whatever, like shops give out flyers in the streets, yet children
are still just about literate in comparison with other countries. I am not just
exaggerating for a humorous effect, I have met plenty of such kids and
University graduate later on, who lag just as much in their abilities and
knowledge. When I did my first degree in the University of Manchester most of
the English students had to go to "night school" to learn basic maths before
proceeding with the rest of the class. The university already had this facility,
aware of the lack of knowledge. Don't get me wrong, England still breeds
fantastic scientists and brilliant minds, but we are talking about the average
and statistical here after all.
There is no recipe for the road to success. Academia loves boxes and statistics
and graphs, etc. What makes you as a person? Your social class, your
education, your salary, your parents' wealth, your manners, your empathy
towards others, your religion, the car you drive? Why do we care about social
mobility? (I know most do, it's rhetorical question) Our "care and concern"
about social and economic mobility is what pushes people further into
extremism, vanity, but also apathy. Who says that going up will make you
happy? Success is measured differently by everybody.