@cystic:
I think it would be inappropriate to expect the giant to give the dwarf half of his apples. Certainly the dwarf might pick something that the giant can’t and barter with it, but i’m guessing that the giant has a greater need for more than half the apples (due to calories consumed/unit weight) than the dwarf who would need fewer apples.
sigh … this was thought as an hand-waving example, more a saying… a metaphor! … SIGH
In terms of education, at least in Canada there are all sorts of ways to make it without having wealthy parents - it just requires working harder. … Maybe they have “better genes”, they’ve grown up in an environment where they learn how to push, how to succeed, how to work. I grew up in an atmostphere where you didn’t become afraid of hard work but you “get angry with it”.
I just read about a survey in germany about the chances to get a higher degree when your parents have one or none… and the selection starts early in germany (opposed to say Finland, which was used to compare, where the selection takes place about 5 years later)…
frightening results: it seems that over here we have to change that our schools try to select (esp. that early, when a lot can happen)…
So, i guess it is both, parents (and the climate they create, do they encourage you to ask questions, do they argue/discuss in a proper way, so you can learn that, do they promote curiousity …etc…) and schools (giving you the same chance regardless of the money you can spend, trying to promote whatever talents you have, as everyone has a talent)…
Is it fair that the wealthy tend to stay wealthy? I don’t think that fairness has anything to do with it. They might stay that way, unless they’re stupid, then evolution will relegate them to the bottom of the heap. Meanwhile i’ve heard to many “rags-to-riches” stories from friends and acquaintances to feel very sorry for that dwarf.
There is a difference: If someone is “mediocre”, then his status won’t change much. So, to get up, you have to be “better than the rest”, to go down, you have to be “extremely stupid”…
This is unfair: You might be better than many many rich-born, but still they will stay “atop” of you, because of their advantage by birth. You have to work unproportionaly (that is the key word) harder to get “up there”