The class threads recently have made me want to share this.
When I was a teenager there were 2 teenage boys.
One was working class born to uneducated parents, lived on a rough council estate, attended a rough school where a high percentage of pupils had free school meals. lots of violent incidents there and dismal academic results. He left school at the minimum age with minimal educational qualifications.
The other was had university educated upper middle class parents, Dad a headteacher, lived in an affluent area, went to a high achieving middle class comprehensive with low free school meal numbers etc. and good results. He stayed on for higher education.
They were both extremely good looking, the heartthrob type who all the girls fancied. I know this is luck, really. They both also had IDENTICAL personalities - what I’d call decent and straightforward. Also I’d say they were both of average intelligence - neither would be in the remedial class, but realistically, neither were of above average intelligence.
I had an INSANE crush on the working class lad - first attracted by his looks - shallow I know - then drawn further in by his personality - always very fair and stuck up for the underdog. Only when I was already reeled in did I realise he was very working class - which I realised was obvious by his speech patterns etc.
I didn’t have a crush on the middle class lad - I think you can’t control crushes - they’re an intense, emotional reaction - but I could totally understand why my peers did - good looking, great personality and would make a nice boyfriend etc.
For me I think character/personality is the most important thing - these two lads to me were carbon copies of each other - only the class element was the factual difference between them.
They’re both in their 50s and leading really happy lives now, btw and happiness = success! 😊