Introduction
With the whole world going through a slow economic phase, Britain has made one profound observation: the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. This is supported by demographic statistics from the deprived regions of the country. Birmingham and Liverpool, for example, has had the number of poor claimants increasing drastically over the last couple of years (Ian, 2009). Manchester is also amongst the poorest local authorities in Britain. In these regions, the fate of every child born is determined not by his/her performance later in life, but by the wealth status of the parents. Thus, children born in the same hospital can grow up to lead incredibly diverse lifestyles. There is simply little hope of crossing the wealth gap, also called social mobility, from an impoverished state to a middle class or upper class livelihood. The white paper on education and social mobility is set to attend to this issue.
Britain’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, stated that even while the global economy is undergoing a down turn, future prospects were bright, and plans should be on hand to harness as much of the local potential as possible. The Minister for Cabinet Office, Liam Byrne, added that there was need to focus on the family units and communities, if Britain’s long term goals on prosperity were to be achieved (Cabinet, 2009). Equal chances would have to be provided to all citizens, regardless of background differences.
Highlights of the white paper
The social mobility white paper has several major highlights or points of focus. A basic point of focus is the disadvantaged kids under two years old. About 57 million pounds have been extended towards the health care of this age group. At the same time, all disadvantaged mothers will enjoy specialized care through pregnancy and the first two years of nursing. About 6,000 teachers will be receiving a 10,000 pound bonus to motivate them to stay in the schools where their services are needed most (Ian, 2009).
The unemployment status will be offset by creating 35,000 entrepreneurship positions so that by 2013, all deserving young people will have something to live on. Gifted minds from poor backgrounds will receive government support in getting positions at the universities. Those not qualified for university education, and who are currently jobless, will benefit from a fulltime volunteer program in the local authorities. At the same time, any prejudices that bar underprivileged people from getting jobs will be eliminated by the creation of an impartial employment panel (Ian, 2009).
More money will be used in getting parents and other guardians some employment positions, or at least some lucrative dispositions. The wider community will be transformed using a 15 million pound community fund, which will be used to improve the deprived regions and increase social amenities there. All in all, the white paper seeks to tackle the financial gap through a multi-pronged approach.
Reason for government intervention
A major criterion driving the intervention of the government in these perpetual social and economic problems is that it has the facilities and resources to inject a sense of equality in an otherwise polarized society. While the entire country struggles to get out of the economic downturn, the recovery process would be accelerated if everybody within the population took an active role in the economy. Presently, all deprived individuals can do little to help the country recover. However, if they were to be facilitated, they would in the long run play crucial roles in the economic build-up of Britain (hrm, 2009).
The world is progressively becoming smaller with the advances in technology. Britain hopes to grasp all the advantages related to this fact by placing all its citizens in strategic positions. For example, with numerous businesses becoming global, international offices are being opened up within Britain, just as well as the other parts of the world. If Britain has the necessary skills and manpower within its citizens, these are employment opportunities literally creating themselves. But if Britain lays back and ignores the trends, the international jobs right within its borders will have to be occupied by immigrants. This latter scenario would put Britain at a distinct disadvantage on the world scene. Educating all capable minds provides one way to avoid such an eventuality (hrm, 2009).
The prevalent economic downturn has exposed one flaw associated with globalization: no country is immune from the economic misadventures of another. This was demonstrated by the speed at which American economic woes spread to the UK and the rest of the world. It hence becomes even more vital to facilitate the local population with all skills and resources necessary to avoid such occurrences in future. The prevalent recession is an unavoidable fact, and probably wouldn’t have been prevented even if everybody had tried. However, its effects wouldn’t have been so far-reaching if all the UK business entities had had better economic tools on hand. At the very least, the depth and duration of the downturn would have been significantly reduced (hrm, 2009).
Childcare
As already stated, there is a primary focus by the white paper on the formative years of children. This focus is in light of the fact that the formative years dictate what kind of a life a person will have to a great extent. They shape the personality of the individual, for example. Future aspirations and visions depend, to a great extent, on the person’s childhood upbringing and experiences. Thus, while a person may have all necessary resources for a prosperous life, he or she may lack the aspiration or vision to utilize them well. It would be a waste of such resources on the person. The government hence saw the need to mould the very perceptions of its future population so as to secure an aggressive, driven citizenship (Julie, 2009).
Pilot projects were carried out in the underprivileged regions of Britain to determine the impact of intervening during early child care. The results were irrefutable: children exposed to better facilities demonstrated remarkable improvements in their language skills, social skills and overall behavior (Julie, 2009). These acquisitions expanded the horizons of the individual later in life. At the same time, the young kids under the pilot project showed a high take-up rate: over 95% responded positively to the readjusted learning environment. All these factors show that investing in such a project on a national scale will give unprecedented benefits to the entire country.
Social mobility
A major hurdle that the white paper looks set to tackle is social mobility, specifically upwards mobility. During the 70s and 80s, there was a marked decline in the number of people who moved upwards in the social ladder. Later, in the 90s, statistics on upwards mobility showed a plateau- people were simply no longer socially mobile. This was made worse by the ever-widening gulf between the rich and the poor. Thus, a central point of focus in the white paper is to kick-start social mobility once again. A related observation here is that children born out of capable parents always have an edge over their underprivileged counterparts. The government hence pledged a 200 pound grant to all parents who would agree to join children development schemes (BBC, 2009). The idea is to provide the young generation with avenues for self establishment, by eliminating unnecessary prejudices and biases.
Individual aspiration
In order to design a method to kick-start social mobility, a study was done on the aspiration levels of people from different backgrounds. The study showed that the backgrounds do have a significant influence on aspiration. For example, a diverse, urban neighborhood whereby people were mobile produced high aspirations, even if the population there was underprivileged. On the other hand, a traditional, close-knit, ex-industrial family set-up would have low levels of aspiration in the children, even if the family was well-off financially. There were other correlations with gender, racial backgrounds and social class. All these were incorporated in designing the social-mobility white paper (cabinet, 2009).
Although individual mindsets seem dependent on backgrounds, this is no reason to discriminate people. In line with this, the education and social mobility white paper seeks to eliminate – actually outlaw – any discrimination based on gender, racial background or social class (Amelia, 2009). So far, some legislation is in place to handle sexism and racial discrimination. Class discrimination is the next clear step that the white paper wants to take. Policies are already being deliberated upon in view of this. This next step is being taken in cognizance of the fact that sometimes, talents and skills get squashed under the oppression of social discrimination.
Conclusion
The benefits to the society from all the above measures are clear. A non-polarized society is radically more effective at attaining its aspirations. If all social prejudices and biases were eliminated, more skills and talents would develop unhindered. Social vices within the society that are driven by a sense of unfairness would disappear. Ultimately, the entire country would move forwards more rapidly. With the backup of the government and its huge resource base, this transformation can realistically occur on a national scale.
Works cited
Amelia Gentleman Government plans to outlaw class discrimination. Web.
BBC (2009) Brown’s social mobility crusade. Web.
Cabinet Office (2009) New opportunities white paper- fair chances for the future. Web.
Cabinet Office (2009) Aspirations and attainment in deprived communities. Web.
Hrm (2009) New opportunities. Web.
Ian Dunt (2009) Social Mobility white paper focuses on early years. Web.
Julie Watkins (2009) Government Social Mobility White Paper Puts Investment in Children Centre Stage. Web.