To think it’s very sad certain professions are denied to some children

[continuallychargingmyphone]

I just didn’t know when I joined MN that if your name is not suitably middle class you are forced into a life of servitude in Asda or Tesco. No being a high court judge for you.

Or, aibu to think people are ridiculous and call your baby what you like?

Liam and Shannon are solid names sugar

It's not only names that employers discriminate against. As part of my work I attended a job fair recently in a fairly run down area and got chatting to someone from the Job Centre who helps candidate prepare their CVs and cover letters.

I was told that she advises applicants from a certain area to leave out their post codes when applying for jobs as local companies use them to filter out "unsuitable" applicants. Employers say that employees from this area are late for work and unreliable. In this deprived area public transport is rubbish - 2 buses need to be taken to reach the nearest main town and there is no train station there either. They have to travel to the next town to catch the train. Leaving their area is expensive for them.

I also know from first hand experience that there are many Chantelles, Chanelles, Kylies, Shyvonnes- pronounced Siobhan- and Jamies with various spellings in that area too.

I visit this town frequently, the people are lovely and want to be given a chance to prove themselves. They've usually had awful childhoods and a poor education experience but want to break that cycle, however they are battling against all the prejudices that are associated with the area in which they live.

They have it all stacked against them and all for being born to the "wrong" parents who have given them the "wrong" name and for living in the "wrong" area. It's just not fair.

I might be excluding talent Jassy, but we’re not short of talent.

Complacency. So sad. It’s ‘good enough’, not ‘the best’.

You know your hedgies don’t give a damn what your profit margins are, right?

Historic solid names. Priceless.

Jassy I know exactly what our investors are interested in. So with more Jayd-ee’s in admin roles, we could be the best instead of just good enough, not that you know my organisation is only good enough of course, that’s your assumption. Interestingly I’ve yet to see an application from a Jayd-ee for any roles requiring professional qualification or complex technical skill.

It’s ineresting though, because the cycle continues.

I can tell you with 99% certainty that your hedge fund wouldn’t employ you, theycouldvechoseneve based on your background alone.

My BF head hunts for hedge funds and most of us wouldn’t even be considered for a PA role. But that’s ok isn’t it? Because they know the people who will work well in their company regardless of fairness, eh?

I can tell you with 100% certainty they wouldn’t Glint and that’s perfectly acceptable. I’m not their kind of person, totally unsuited to that environment and have no desire to be.

Ah you’re moving the goal posts.

So you’re saying if you got ‘a Jay-dee’ for a skilled technical role, you wouldn’t bin her application because she’s not People Like Us?

I don’t know what I’d do Jassy as it’s never happened. Not moving the goal posts at all. I don’t bin CV’s because the name denotes someone isn’t a Person Like Us - I don’t know what you mean by people like us. I bin them because experience has taught they aren’t great employees and I’ve too many other good options in front of me. You can rephrase your challenges to my viewpoint as many times as you like, my viewpoint isn’t changing

‘It’s fine, I’ll take the third-best candidate because then I don’t have to worry about having chavs in the office or letting the lower classes get above themselves.’

Personally, I quite like a world that hasn't sacrificed everything on the altar of quasi-scientific technocracy. And so (secretly) do an awful lot of other people.

The government should be encouraging more students into being doctors by giveing a susbsidy - same with any profession with a low take up rate or shortages.

There is no shortage of applicants to medical schools - quite the reverse, hence why they can be so picky about who gets through the selection criteria.

Some countries in the world have poor rights for females. I'm fortunate that I live in a country that allows opportunities for everyone. However, there is still some discrimination for people with disabilities in the work place. Everyone starts at zero when they start their education. Some families have connections that allow extra opportunities to occur later in life. However, you can progress in education or become an entrepreneur and set up your own business. Some modern things; female footballers, female cricket, Paralympics, women in front line army, astronauts, male ballet dancer in the news yesterday etc

Everyone starts at zero when they start their education

Not so, the massive advantage of social class is there before the child starts formal education.

Shiloh is significant as the site of a crucial battle in the American Civil War.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie named one of their children “Shiloh”.
Shiloh Pitt. Sounds a good and worthy name........ (until you spoonerize it).

I temped for the NHS one summer when I was at uni. I had to input MMR vaccinations onto a records system. One child was called (I kid you not) Misty Dawn Harbour.

I had a an application from someone called sunny-Dee light

I know someone whose surname is Light. Suggested names for little baby Light included Sky, Moon, Torch, and (my favourite) Gorra. Dee was also suggested, but I'm ashamed to say none of us thought of prefixing it with Sunny.

Everyone starts at zero when they start their education

LOL. That's actually hilarious.

It was a joke, right?

Everyone starts at zero when they start their education

Nope. And it really doesn’t take too much thought to see how having well educated parents, parents with good financial resources, or parents both willing and able to access a variety of activities beneficial for child development and early education, could potentially give a child a head start over a child who’s parents don’t have those advantages.

Everyone starts at zero when they start their education

Certainly not. Some parents put time, effort and resources into their child's early years and continue to do so whilst the child is in education. Given there is a charity set up to give books to children as some households don't have any nobody can really believe all children are academically equal.

The current financial pressures on councils has also led to many councils closing libraries and / or reducing library opening hours, which means books can be a lot harder to access for families who can’t easily afford to buy books and who don’t live close to a library.

Everyone starts at zero when they start their education

As PP have pointed out, this is quite wrong. Children have wildly different vocabularies, motor skills development, social skills etc when they start school.

The current financial pressures on councils has also led to many councils closing libraries and / or reducing library opening hours, which means books can be a lot harder to access for families who can’t easily afford to buy books and who don’t live close to a library.

Whilst that is undoubtedly true in some places, there are alternatives. If there's a will, there's a way! There is more than ever information available freely on the internet - you can certainly "read" a huge amount of literature on free websites, or can download e-versions of many of the classics for 1p. You can buy all kinds of books from charity shops, second hand book-shops etc for next to nothing. For studying, there are online youtube videos, online tutorials, etc for virtually all school subjects/topics. Yes, it's a shame that libraries may not be as accessible anymore, but there are alternatives.

All this online stuff is great ...if you have access to the internet at home, a device to read it on and know how to use it said device. Job centres are still having to teach some of the very basics and help people create their first email address which they cannot access at home due to lack of internet access.

Charity shop books can still be more expensive than a cheap book at Bookworld or the supermarket depending where you live.

The computers at my local library are always in use when I visit the library. Sometimes by people using the internet, sometimes by people wanting to print stuff off.

I’m guessing that the people using library computers for the internet are probably doing so because they don’t have access to the internet at home. And thus would find it difficult to access all this fantastic literature and educational stuff online if their local library closed.

My friend was covineced her ‘forrin’ surname meant she struggled to get interviews. Anecdotally she seemed to find things easier after she married her husband who has a very bland and normal and English surname.