These are my musings. Yes, this will get political.
The way our capitalist system works, there is a pyramid of people with the working class (proletariat) at the bottom. This layer has to be the biggest in number because it’s a pyramid and the foundation layers have to be the largest because the upper layers are dependent on the layers below.
Now, if every single person on the bottom layer was gifted/earned double what they do now, that would redress the balance?
NO. As the majority of people in that layer have to stay there to hold the system up. If the monetary wealth is increased for every-one then inflation would simply redress the balance and keep the proletariat in their place.
Which is the way it works! I often hear state school teachers talk about social justice, yes you may enable some of your working-class pupils to jump into the upper layers but by the nature of the system outlined above, what you are simultaneously doing is holding other working-class pupils (nationally/globally) in that layer.
teachers talk about social justice, yes you may enable some of your working-class pupils to jump into the upper layers but by the nature of the system outlined above, what you are simultaneously doing is holding other working-class… Click To Tweet
We may be warriors for social mobility, but only in our own schools, on the national and global scales we are essentially holding up the system, we are maintaining the status quo.
The Meritocracy Myth.
Pran, this is the way the world works. If you are better you get to climb the layers.
Lots of people
I am not opposed to the concept of the meritocracy. Other than the fact we live in a world with finite resources thus for any one person to have more than their 1/7000000000 this means that someone else has to get less. I could possibly still get on board with a version of this if it didn’t include a world where children starve or die because of inequitable health care, etc.
This is not the world we live in and we do not live in a meritocracy, if you are a white, cis, hetero, male, middle class, etc. you are given an unfair advantage. I’ll point out that here you are not just given this advantage, this advantage is taken from the pockets and mouth of those without those traits (Zeus Leonardo). Examples include the gender pay gap, the BAME pay gap the intersectional data at schools, the various studies on racial discrimination, the poorer health care, etc. I could on.
What is our role? What is our purpose? I don’t have that answer yet, but what I do have is an idea of what my own purpose is. I want to raise children who have the critical knowledge and skills to change the world, to recognise society and all its imperfections. Then they can make their own choices in life.
What is our role? What is our purpose? I ... Click To Tweet
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