Dave's Progress. Chapter 108: Why Don't You Use Me?

Most people don't like being used. There's something about the very phrase that implies exploitation. I, on the other hand, would love to be "used". I would love for someone to come along and say, "David, we could use you", in this or that capacity. "Yes, we could certainly use you, David", in fact, would be music to my ears.
After a life-time of education, and moreover, thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands being spent on me by the state, I simply wonder, is this the best that can be made of my talents, whatever they may be? And, I think, there must be a lot of people asking the same question.
So, after watching a programme on BBC 2 the other night, entitled "Who Gets The Best Jobs?", one possible answer became apparent.
According to the programme, the gap between rich and poor in this country is growing ever wider. The "social mobility" of which I spoke in a previous chapter, also, seems to be becoming a thing of the past. Whereas in the era of the post-war "baby-boomer" generation one could expect, even coming from a lowly working-class background, to at least earn a living, the mechanisms which provided such security are now becoming ever more rare. Even those who did not get to university once had a ladder up in the form of local industry, but that, the programme stated, is now in remission. For those who do get to go to college, there is now the matter of exactly which college you have been to. No longer is it good enough to just have a degree, it must be from the right place if one wants to get on in "the professions". More and more, the super-rich seem to be engaging in nepotism, only finding places within certain professions for those who have the right connections and background. To get on otherwise, it appeared that often one would have to work voluntarily for some time. But, as only the rich can afford to do this, windows of opportunity are becoming even narrower.
A number of statistics were given to back up this argument. I can not, at present, recall all of them, but needless to say they reflected a society in which opportunity is only available to a select few. Indeed, one only has to look at the front bench of parliament to understand where privilege can get you, made up, as it is, mostly of ex-pupils of Eton and graduates of Oxford or Cambridge. Now with tuition fees at universities on the increase, this situation seems only to be getting worse.
There are, of course, those who disagree with such arguments, claiming that if you are bright, talented and strong-willed enough, you will get on in life. One academic even argued that people from the middle-classes and up are just innately more talented and bright, and that is why they seem to be getting all the top jobs in society. The journalist who made the programme rightly pointed out that this would be an offensive argument to many, with its suggestion that those from the more privileged classes are somehow genetically more capable. To my mind, it seemed to prove the thesis that to be really stupid takes a life-time of education.
What can not be argued with, though, is the statistical data, and indeed, there was no argument from this academic contradicting the fact that the middle and upper classes are getting all the best and most powerful positions, often leaving those from the lower echelons in an economically fragile position.
Thatcher's promise, then, of a "classless" society with opportunity open to all seems a distant dream. The gap is getting wider, not slimmer, and that, as the journalist pointed out, is bad for everybody. The countries which are most economically productive are those which use all of their human resources, and, unfortunately, it seems we, in Britain, have yet to learn this lesson.
So the answer to my question, "why don't you use me?", may have nothing at all to do with my intelligence, talent, or drive, but everything to do with where I am from, which school I went to and which university. I always thought that my mental ill health is what has held me back, and of course, I don't think you can underestimate the role that has played in my lack of economic progress. However, add to that these other factors, and the picture which is painted is a depressing one. It sort of begs the question, is it really any longer possible in this country to achieve great things by skill and talent alone, or is it that you have to know the right people, do the right degree at the right college and have enough money to move in such high circles?
One person who did achieve greatness through sheer talent, Paul Weller, perhaps got it right when he wrote, "the world is your oyster, but your future's a clam. It's got you in its grip before you're born." So, farewell equality of opportunity, farewell fairness, farewell social justice. This is not the classless, but the class-ridden society, where money does indeed talk.