Not for the likes of me

Yesterday, I chanced upon the debate in Parliament on Social Mobility. MPs were debating a motion on social mobility and fair access to professions.

Alan Milburn eloquently described the barriers to moving up in life and the "not for the likes of me" syndrome that fosters an "aspiration gap".

What I really identified with was the recognition that mobility should be " a chance throughout life, and not just a one-off chance..." and that there was a need for a system that would allow entry and mobility at more mature ages.

Having chosen to reinvent myself and reenter the education system in my thirties, I can describe firsthand the barriers and obstacles.

Read another interesting discussion on "the equality delusion".

"Every survey in the last half century has confirmed that poverty is a fundamental cause of failure".

Coming from India, this is possibly the understatement of the millenium.

But all this discussion is about social mobility within a society. The bitter and stark truth about the accident of birth really goes much deeper. Let's zoom out and talk about the differences in development on a global level. Will there ever be an equal world?