Personal effort and equality of opportunity

[newmummycwharf1]

A 14 year old teenager decides they would like to be an oncologist. This is influenced by losing the grandparent they are fond of to cancer. So she asks her parent what it would take and they explain the many years of studying, average pay in the training years but the significant impact she can have on the lives of millions. This young girl buckles down, works had in a comprehensive in North London, parents scrimp and save to pay for some tutoring when needed and she does really well to get into Imperial College Medical School. Works very long hours in training, being moved from county to county every 6-12 months until finally they qualify as a consultant 11 years post graduation from medical school. She then works for the NHS full time around 2 kids for a further 9 years building a research portfolio, winning awards along the way, with a husband who is supportive of her career. At this junction - she decides to do 2 days a week of private work and now earns circa £400k annually from NHS and private combined and is world reknowned.

On the other hand - some of the other kids in her North London comp chose a different path. Applied themselves less, wanted to muck about more. And she looked wistfully at them sometimes, wanting to join but eye on the goal. 'I will be become an oncologist, I will help people and I will make a good livelihood from that' - she thought.

Does anyone think that her current high earnings should not be used to buy privilege for her kids? Better house location, private school/grammar and tuition, all taxed as appropriate?

Is it fair to say that she may have been less motivated to work so hard in her teens, 20s, 30s and early 40s, if the reward (both personal and financial) would be the same as those who didnt?

AIBU that we can create equality of opportunity by :

1. Destroying discrimination that prevents people who want to progress in their careers/businesses from doing so

1. Focusing on changing societal values so parents support their kids early to be confident/have self belief and to have a solid work ethic. This will be passed on to the next generation and is better than any inheritance

1. Better pay for both men and women so parents have time to properly parent. Therefore we need economic growth

There isnt equality of effort but there can be equality of opportunity and access at every stage of life. And then personal/parental responsibility to leverage this

Late Tuesday musings.....

Is she really reKnowned?

I think you are massively underestimating the inter generational effects of poverty and disadvantage.

Hence economic growth, with a higher median wage that goes further, is one of the key areas that needs to be addressed. But I agree with you that poverty and disadvantage significantly impacts self belief/confidence/aspiration

I don’t think i can vote YANBU or YABU

Of course I think that people should reap the rewards of their hard work - although your story suggested this particular girl was more motivated by doing good than money on a personal level. Not everyone will be of course.

Passing on privilege to your kids is more tricky - I don’t necessarily think there should be a whole separate education system with all sorts or perks and privileges that you can buy into. Of course her money can buy her kids a nice house, nice holidays etc though

Theres something in what you say about the conditions for bringing about greater equality but that won’t go the whole way. As a pp said, inter generational wealth or poverty makes a huge difference in so many ways.

The scandis and some other European countries seem to do well - less of a massive gap between rich and poor, decent welfare and benefits, taxes used to good purpose to make everyone more equal etc, but still plenty of reward for those who strive. It’s not a question of either total free for all capitalism, or a repressive communist system / some other system where all jobs would pay the same.

Agree with this thoughtful response. She is definetely more driven by a passion to make a difference.

In countries like Norway and Sweden, there is strong government support for parents working, so very few women (less than approx. 10%) are stay at home once their kids turn 1 years old. This is more like 30% or even more in the UK.

They also only pay jobseekers allowance for max 1 year - and most people pay into an insurance to fund this. Beyond this, you have to sell your assets to qualify for any government assistance.

There is, of course, higher taxes to fund these benefits (affordable childcare, paid maternity leave for 1 year, high quality state schools and healthcare). But there is widespread population buy-in with very low unemployment rates.

So I feel like the ethos in these countries is underpinned by a strong emphasis on individual contribution (work should pay) but funded more robustly by the collective