The older I get, the more convinced I am that the United States operates on a sort of pseudo-caste system where you get locked into a specific track from which you will never be able to escape.
Let's say you're a young guy from a working-class family. Nepotism is not on your side, and they can't afford to send you to college right away, so you get a McJob and work full-time for a while barely scraping by with roommates. Now you're a little older and more mature so you decide on where you want to go and how to get there and decide to get an education.
No matter what combination of education and internships/wageslave jobs you get, it will never be good enough. HR will look at your resume, see that you never worked a job that pays what they're offering, and promptly toss it in the trash. You're competing with people who got great middle-class jobs straight out of high school or college(paid for by mom and dad at 18 yrs old) thanks to nepotism, and now they have years of experience in the same jobs they're applying to, which totally trumps your crappy resume no matter how many degrees or 6-month internships you put on it.
Yes America has very poor social/economic mobility, it's on par with Britain I believe. Other countries like Leafland are better for this, but they come with tradeoffs.
Luke Brooks
Nothing new here, chads, the sons of Republicans (rich people) become managers and move up the corporate ladder while nerd sons of Democrats (down and out people) fill labor positions.
The way for nerds to make it is to take a trade an overcharge Chad for plumbing or heating repairs....
Kayden Gomez
I was a working class kid who got into and through college with a mix of jobs, loans and scholarships.
The biggest barrier I see is not my economic background, but the mindset of limited ambition a "lower class" upbringing can generate.
Fortunately (and I thank them for this) my parents instilled in my from childhood a "you can be what you want to be" belief, and whether or not that's true, believing it can take you a long way.
Where you didn't think higher than a McJob fresh out of school, kids with stronger ambitions sought out entry-level jobs with promotion prospects or battered down the gates to college.
The "locked into a specific track" definitely exists, but it is more a matter of parent- and culture-induced self-limitations than external obstacles
Julian Richardson
>Where you didn't think higher than a McJob fresh out of school, Why are you making assumptions? You can't justwaltz into anywhere with no experience and get a great job. You got handed college money for free and obviously had some connections in places. That's why you got everything you want. You thinkI wanted to work mcjobs and barely scrap by? No, I had bills to pay and couldn't afford to play around with 3 years trying desperately to get a good job.
Sebastian Torres
>obviously had some connections >That's why you got everything you want.
If only.
Tyler Foster
>never be able to escape. >Prove me wrong. Wife grew up miserably poor and abused. Lower, lower class white trash, never went to high school, married at 15. She divorced at 18 when she could be on her own and decided to improve her position in life. She consciously dressed higher class, never got any tattoos, and didn't do drugs (except drinking socially). She got a job as a secretary in a law firm and mimicked the speech and behavior of the upper class while getting her GED and going to community college on the side. By the time I met her, she was a hot young college student/ business girl obviously from the middle class. Now she's married, solidly professional class, college educated, has three kids and does the usual volunteer work for her class of wife.
Hard to change classes. yes Impossible. no
Eli Flores
>you will never be able to escape. it's pretty easy to go down in class my niece comes from Doctor parents and went to a private school and toured Europe as a "senior trip" now she smokes pot all of the time and hangs out at the casino with her druggy boyfriend and 3 retarded (literally) kids
Isaiah Howard
>She got a job as a secretary in a law firm Um yeah a HS dropout landing a job like that without even a GED has "rare exception" written all over it. That's definitely not the norm
Ayden Parker
How much dick did she suck to get that job
Grayson Evans
>Um yeah a HS dropout landing a job like that without even a GED has "rare exception" written all over it. Absolutely. She is probably the most socially intelligent person I've ever known. She's not bad doing math, writing papers and so forth, but put her in a room of people and she'll spend a few minutes observing them and then basically tell you the life history of every person there. She can blend in with essentially any social group and people will trust her almost instantly. It's really good that she's not evil because she could really take advantage of people if she wanted to.
Gavin Morgan
I'm sure it had nothing to do with her being a woman
You're missing the point. She applied for the job. She didn't assume it was beyond her and not even try
Logan Morgan
>How much dick did she suck to get that job None by that point. She actually found it was more effective getting what she wanted with charm and by being extremely competent at her job. She was observant enough to anticipate what her bosses needed and would make sure it was done before they even asked. Back when she was 14 though, I was told she was already an epic level cocksucker, she certainly kept that skill as she got older.
Luis Nguyen
You're sort of right kind of, but you can do a lot of shit if you're actually motivated.
For instance. I just got this fulltime job. All I have time to do is work and sleep, but I'll soon have enough money to buy literally whatever I want. Im getting a new computer and starting a home business selling shit on the internet
That's the kind of thing you can do. You can save money talk to everyone and try stuff. In a caste system you are literally stuck doing what your dad did. In the US there are options. BUT you are sort of right in the sense that if you don't grow as a person or try to become someone else in order to succeed you will end up doing the same shit anyway.
Levi Nelson
>She didn't assume it was beyond her and not even try Yep, this is the key. She wanted to improve herself, she came up with a plan and followed it. She had huge disadvantages, no money, no family connections, no education, no one to show her how. But she also had advantages, she was female, pretty, extremely intelligent, pragmatic and driven.
Anthony Sanders
It's called self fulfilling prophecy, it's nothing new
Luis Hall
It's not about assumption you tard. It's about REAL LIFE where people don't have time to fuck around hoping someone will give them their dream job because they have to make ends meet and job hunting doesn't pay the bills
Maybe you should read the OP again. It doesn't matter how you build on what you've already done, you won't even get noticed without a demonstrable history of working the same kind of jobs you're applying for
Chase Robinson
>In the US there are options Like all countries, the US is a class system, but here it is much easier to change your class than in other places .>All I have time to do is work and sleep, but I'll soon have enough money to buy literally whatever I want. Gratz to you user. Keep it up and you will be victorious.
Josiah Thomas
lower class american kid here, with the Obama administration came a fuckton of scholarships for very little effort, much like the older days.
i'm a full ride student in university now.
psuedo caste system exists only if you want to be an elite--but moving from poverty can happen, although you probably do need a shitton of luck.
Ayden Thomas
>you won't even get noticed without a demonstrable history The guy who works for me at our engineering firm did field surveying during the day and loaded freight into trailers at night. He said it was actually much easier than moving pipe like he did to get though college. He was a huge help for me when I needed him and I spent a couple of years teaching him. Now he has his own clients and makes over $150k a year. He has a really hot wife and his second son was just born.
Daniel Wilson
>probably do need a shitton of luck. And stay away from the easy and fun but damaging shit going out to the bars and nailing sluts is really fun but you end up going nowere
Robert Gray
Gee thanks for rambling on about irrelevant shit
Logan Ward
>irrelevant shit Hmm... thread about how impossible it is to go from working class to professional class. Example of how guy went from very poor farm boy (11 brothers and sisters I believe) to very successful professional class "Irrelevant" perhaps you should start your journey of self-improvement with some logic training
Jonathan Ramirez
Your anecdotal bullshit does not prove that we live in some kind of utopian meritocracy like you think.
Blake Lopez
But that's the thing, you pushed forward someone you already knew. There's a lot of coincidence that goes with that - what about the other dudes who were even more skilled and wouldn't have required as much of your teaching to get to the same point? Well, they weren't in your life and you didn't know them, so it doesn't matter.
Not that there's anything wrong with that or that you are to blame for anything, but the fact of the matter is that pure meritocracy just does not exist.
There are a LOT of middle and upper management-level type people who are painfully average at best but they had some decent social skills and were in the right place at the right time and friends with the right people.
Merit and skill definitely helps, but it is far from being deterministic.
Benjamin Smith
I think it's even worse than that, now that I'm out of school and working it feels like the cover of society has come off to reveal an extremely cruel, stupid, animalistic hierarchy, like we never left the fucking primordial soup
