High achieving families

[Coldemort]

this isn't about politics disclaimer
So... I ended up down a twitter/wikipedia rabbit hole around the Javid family (most famous being Sajid, but brother Baz is also very high ranking, another brother a CEO, another a millionaire property magnate).
That family are first generation, working class. What is the family dynamic that makes them so very successful?
The Johnsons of the world, I get. When you have wealth, privalege and the best education money can buy, it makes sense you are going to be in the elite.
But what is the dynamic in working class families that produce such high achieving children? (I could reference other families, but the Javids are the one that caught my eye tonight)

@sst1234 - After partition property prices in India weren’t too different from the UK as the rupee was matched to the pound. House ownership was rare and life expectancy was approx 50-60 at best (it wasn’t the usual course of events for most people to have in-laws living with them for example), and married women tended to die even earlier, so extended family was only really limited to brothers. The more immediate male relatives you had (and the closer they were) the richer your family would be.

@Notcontent

I think in most cases parents play a key role. Sure, there are some people who come from chaotic, unsupportive homes, who do well nonetheless, because they have some internal drive or because someone else, like a teacher, becomes a mentor to them.

But for most children what makes a difference is how their parents see education and success, and the “culture” at home.

I did really well because of teachers. I was given up by my parents as a very young baby, placed in a children's home until the age of 18 months, then long-term fostered into a very chaotic and damaging environment. My foster dad, who I was very close to died before I was 9 and we then moved home, school and my foster mum was allowed to foster additional children and then started fostering short-term. It was chaotic but I was lucky because I was clever and hard-working and resilient. I was also determined to live a better life and worked hard to do so. I was the first to go to University.

[quote sst1234]@XingMing

Spot on. The bar is being lowered by a certain section of low achieving entitled population, who get the same opportunities are everyone else. Ironically they whinge about private and grammar schools as though they have all the drive in the world to make it, and state education just isn’t doing it for them. It’s laughable and tragic at the same time.[/quote]
All fine, except that's not my post; it's a comment on my post, and it is not what I wrote.

colonial USA has been quite vocal about how and why they got rid of British occupation there.

But given that the Boston tea party took place in the 1770s, there has been a decent interval to catch back and create a new narrative. And by and large, the US has dominated the story since 1945.

Sajid went to Winchester college! It's a pretty good school. I'd say that had something to do with his success

Oops different guy!

I think that was Rishi Sunak.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, for clarity.

@turfsausage

Sajid went to Winchester college! It's a pretty good school. I'd say that had something to do with his success

He definitely didn't. Made a big point in his leadership campaign about being the only one who went to a comprehensive. One of the others went to a grammar (Gove maybe?). The rest were all Eton/Harrow old boys

Who are the rest?
Harrow/Eton might be a generalisation as some politicians are accused of being old harrovians or old etonians, when they are not.

It's Rishi Sunak who is the Old Wykehamist

My dad's family was interesting. They were absolutely in the bracket 'poor working class' with terrible likely outcomes due to moving around a lot, lots of different schools, secondary moderns etc.

Yet, one brother went into the military and excelled as an engineer.
One brother set up a very successful and innovative business that employed many people.
My dad went against everyone's wishes in his family and became a photographer in the sixties. He ran a successful commercial photography business.

They had no one teaching them how to do this. They had no financial backing. They did have love...to me they are the ultimate family success story. Because they individually propelled themselves from poverty and gave their children (me included) an completely different experience of life.

What was it? My dad explained that when he was growing up he always felt a deep sense of shame about being poor.
Add to that they had natural intelligence, nothing to lose and massive amounts of drive.

@MikeUniformMike

Who are the rest? Harrow/Eton might be a generalisation as some politicians are accused of being old harrovians or old etonians, when they are not.

Boris Johnson, Rory Stewart: Eton Jeremy Hunt: Charterhouse Gove: Robert Gordans College (private independant) It was Dominic Raab who surprisingly went to a grammar school.

So ok Charterhouse and not Harrow, but that's still half the candidates with only Javid going to a state comp!

PM - Eton
Sunak - Winchester
Raab - grammar
Patel - comp
Gove - independent
Buckland - private
Wallace - Millfield - private
Hancock - King's - private
Eustice - Truro Cathedral School
Sharma - Reading Blue Coats - private
Truss - state
Coffey - independent
Williamson - state
Jenrick - independent
Shapps - grammar
Lewis - independent
Jack - private
Hart - Radley
Evans (Leader of HoL) - grammar
Dowden - comp
Milling - Private

Sorry, should have added that that is the secondary education of the current cabinet.

Only one old Etonian and no old Harrovians. 7 or 8 not privately educated AFAIK.

Given their ages, some of those educated privately probably had assisted or free places. I went to a private school (the sister school to one of the above) on a county council place. Before the scheme was abolished, quite a few kids who would have qualified for grammar schools or who lived in very rural/island areas went to boarding school.

@XingMing

Given their ages, some of those educated privately probably had assisted or free places. I went to a private school (the sister school to one of the above) on a county council place. Before the scheme was abolished, quite a few kids who would have qualified for grammar schools or who lived in very rural/island areas went to boarding school.

Excellent point. My DH went to one of the top schools in the country on the assisted places scheme. He came from a very poor w/c family. That scheme made a difference to so many young people.

Myohmy, id just like to give your dad a round of applause, or similar. And be proud of my dad for a mo...he came from an awful poor family in Liverpool by the gasworks, no food, evacuated to wales, no education, yet he managed to go to London work for a shop that sold prints and Then set up aN ‘art gallery.’ Well, he sold copies of the Haywain. He eventually put up a stall in Camden passage and got frankie Howard in to open it. The start of Camden passage. I can’t help wondering what he would have achieved if he’d come form good stock. 🥂cheers dad!