Equality of outcome is a radically leftist ideal. The playing field can only be leveled by dealing with the root cause of its unevenness: The ability of elites to pass their privilege on to the next generation.
We don’t even have to consider the Donald Trumps and Koch brothers of the world, who got ahead by inheriting their daddies fortunes. Privilege comes in many shades of grey. Simply being born into a middle class family is a stupendous head start: Growing up in an affluent neighborhood, you will attend a well-funded school; befriend other middle class kids, some of whom may grow up to be invaluable connections; you will be largely sheltered from the gangs, drugs and violence, plaguing inner city neighborhoods; you will have access to the upscale tutoring and test-prep industry. Your parents may even finance your education, shielding you from the horrifying student depts of working class graduates. Most elite colleges still practice “legacy admissions,” giving preference to kids who happen to be the offspring of alumni, thus further tilting the playing field in their favor.
Even the air you breath puts you at an advantage. You get to grow up at a safe distance from the industrial pollution sources, disproportionately located in poor neighborhoods. Air pollution not only harms the lungs of children — it also cross their permeable blood-brain barriers, interfering with their fragile, developing brains. A UNICEF meta study found exposure to air pollution during early childhood to correlate with «future developmental delays, lower verbal IQ, and increased signs of anxiety, depression, and problems with attention».
