Australia

Yep. Similar, not exactly the same but dad went to a technical school and entered into a trade of sorts, and mum dropped out due to moving a lot and education being different (like she'd learn things she already knew but then didn't learn stuff that the other kids knew). And education was really important to them, especially because I struggled a lot. I got diagnosed with auditory processing disorder at like 10 but lived with undiagnosed ADHD until like two years ago or so.

But I went to public school for all of my years. Ended up having to go to Tafe for a few years until I was a mature student (didn't get the atar I needed) and got into uni with the degree I wanted. And now I'm the first person in my family to have a uni degree. And while it's great that I could still go and not worry about paying everything up front, it's still going to worry me for when or if I have to eventually pay off that debt.

Especially since I want to get a master's in my field of learning (and eventual PhD but that's because hardly anywhere recognises Mx as a title). But yeah it's tough.

I think it's bringing up a couple of good points actually, that are worth considering when crafting public policy, and observing where our current society is heading.

1. Treating and thinking of our current public education system as "the great equaliser", such that children coming out of it operate at a roughly similar level once they leave, isn't actually a reality.

2. The outcomes of children, despite going through this "great equaliser" system, is actually still significantly affected by parents, meaning parents, and the way they interact with their children, still have a massive role in children's outcomes.

I think a lot of people, and teachers, have observed that parents appear to be increasingly farming out non-academic responsibilities onto the school system and teachers (e.g. discipline, life lessons, social expectations), let alone give time to help their child academically.

And I imagine a lot of this is due to themselves being overwhelmed, under financial stress, or simply having to work more hours less securely to cover rapidly rising living expenses.

All of this adds up to a picture that creating the conditions in our society where parents are under less pressure financially and mentally (presumably similar to conditions experienced by university educated and CEO parents) is likely to improve children's educational outcomes, and their future outlook and experience in life.

TLDR; it suggests easing life conditions for low socio-economic parents, such that it enables them to spend more time with their kids, would have more of an impact in improving their children's life outcomes, rather than focusing money and resources entirely on the education system to do the same. Admittedly some assumptions in there. But worth investigating.

And another reading could be that putting resources into making university more universally accessible, and something that is encouraged to be taken even by those pursuing careers not requiring university, and structured in a way to more easily and unobtrusively allow that, so that more parents had university experience, could be a better way of improving children's educational outcomes than putting the same resources purely into public schooling and children.

Bloody right? Those are two very different classes of people. Not everyone with a uni degree works a white collar job. My dad has an engineering degree and worked in a factory. Like, compared to the kids of a CEO, we had enough to be comfortable but only small luxuries besides that.