Sal Paradise wrote:
That third are the ones that will make it happen - if your beat before you start you have no chance of progress. I am interested in where you believe an opportunity has been denied to you because of your social status/upbringing?
It's quite simple
Despite how many people "Want to Win" there can be only so many "Winners" (whatever that may be).
The traits that drive those winners are the traits that make/give them narcisitocal tendencies )and dilute to recent study, make them happier than caring/sharing/left namby pamby people).
Now I could wrap this traits up as a description but the top line is, those people dont like to share, they perceive that theyve worked hard (which they have) ergo everyone else hasnt.
Now ufotunatley IMO the opportunities to get into the positions of power/authority, the positions that lead to top jobs etc, come from the who you know not what you know circles.
And by definition if 90% of the wealth comes from 10% of the population, then the 10/20% of the "Top job/opportunities" will more often than not come from the 10% that are in the know to begin with.
This is completely hypothetical, but if we classed 30/40million people as currently working or in higher level education, of which 10% are classed as the ones with the most wealth etc and there are say 1million Opprotunites/top obs going, then do we think that those opportunities will go to the 30/40 million equally?
Or will the top 10% get first dibs?
I'm "lucky", not that I am extremely well off or anything, I've been employed since I was 16 and have in today's terms a very safe job and never really had to worry.
I came from a deprived area, but was lucky enough to have a mum and dad with their head screwed on, they had little money but they kept me on the straight and narrow.
But so did dozens of others from that area, and very few are in as lucky position as me and I am not naive enough to think that my luck was all down to hard work.
And when im talking lucky here, I'm not talking eton/oxford/Cambridge whichbwould lead to the top opportunities, I'm not talking CEO opportunities or Politics opportunity, I'm talking lucky to have a slightly above average job with a lifestyle to suit (which is what I want as I have no aspirations of a yacht or race horses).
The dozens of others who did have parents with headaches screwed on make do with below average jobs
This that didnt there are hundreds of, and I see the situations some are in day to day.
And I understand the comeback, they should work harder, they should do this or do that like I did.
But top line, I'm a foster parent, and 99% (and I'm tempted to say 100%) of the children that come our way, and they way of dozens of friends who do the same thing are that a lot of these children's lives are mapped out by the time theyve hit their teenage years.
In the last 10 years or so IMO the systems got worse, as austerity has kicked in, and social care networks have been eroded (sure start, mental health) etc there are more and more falling into the cracks.
The top 10% (and let's be honest here, its probably more the top 2% were talking about) will benok, have the means to get by, and if things go wrong theyll have contacts/networks etx to get back).
The bottom 20% dont.
