Education and Competition

Society at least in the Uk seems confused! Today it was said said that children of those who have university degrees will in future be put at the bottom of the list in selection of new undergraduates. What fun! Someone somewhere is assuming that it is university education that bestows advantage and not family back ground and early fascination with life. I am beginning to think that my grandchildren before they get to the age of 5 already have a tremendous advantage in life. Perhaps babies should be removed from family control and put into a state creche to level the playing field. I am not even sure that a university degree makes much difference, and it would be something of a paradox if in 2027 most pampered university graduates were failures, while the middle class was wildly successful have been freed from the chains of conventional education. Graduate grandsons (such as myself) of Welsh peasant boys who never went to University find this all very intriguing! What exactly is the message to the children of recent graduates? I suspect the ruling classes in the UK will in future be educated in Australia and the USA. Try and stop that!
But I also thought that we tried to promote people on merit. What do we do to the unfortunates who pass entry exams and then get disqualified because of an accident of birth? Like me they become international outlaws (after only one generation of university education), not so bad for them but perhaps not good for the UK in the long run.
This then brings me to another thing that I find confusing. How far in our society can you go in wanting to win in politics or business while at the same time avoiding using one's innate education or character to tread down the competition. I do not think Tony Blair has got to the top by playing down his advantages (public school and university) but by a rather single-minded ruthlessness for the main chance. Come to think of it, it is a good idea - Children of politicians should not be allowed to go to university for two generations after reaching political power! There's method in their madness after all!
A free market system cannot operate if we tinker with underlying social trends. Clearly anyone who fights his way to the top ought to be hindered as much as possible in this brave new world. AS always who is going to do the hindering - Tony Blair, the most ruthless of all.