Should the middle classes use their employment status to help their children?

The BBC posted an article today on how middle class parents are creating a 'glass floor' for their children, by using their influence to give them the skills and career boost to help them become higher earners. The article, at  Glass Floor Protecting Middle Class, uses the report from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission to highlight how 'parental help may start with providing a good home-learning environment in the early years, and continue with seeking out better schools, offering help with homework and exam preparation. Parental education level and attendance at a private or grammar school all had a significant impact over and above the influence of academic attainment.'But isn't this a knee-jerk reaction to blame parents for doing their job well? Wouldn't any loving parent want to seek out the best for their child and use whatever connections they can to seek their improvement or benefit?

The Commission does call on the government to introduce policies that would benefit children who are deprived of the benefits that children with 'educated parents' receive.
But how effective would these policies be and would they truly produce a level playing field for children from all different backgrounds?
Is legislation the best answer?

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  • Wow! What a topic! As a parent - yes, I'm always going to do what I can to help my children achieve happiness in their lives. I've already started coaching them and developing their emotional intelligence!!
    I believe this will always have been true, it might just be more obvious now as more parents are falling into this bracket. Which could suggest that with time the numbers of children with parents more able to help will continue to increase. I'm not a fan of legislation as the answer to many things. Maybe schemes like Steps Ahead Mentoring will continue to spread. However I've read before that it's the first 5 years of life that are critical to a child's future and I'm not sure how close others (apart from nursery / pre school) could get to that.
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