[k__]

" My wife and I work very hard so we can afford to optimize the development of our children as best we can so they can eventually do better than we did. My parents did the same. My parent's parents did the same."

yes, they all did... until they didn't and then you are stuck at the bottom because your parents or their parents failed.

[itsjustme2]

You may be stuck, but in many such societies you can do things to give your children a chance to get unstuck.

[frgtpsswrdlame]

A society in which you're stuck by virtue of your parent's choices doesn't seem like a meritocracy at all. Why not just call it a "low mobility aristocracy" or a "bounded caste system" or something of the like?

[itsjustme2]

because in an aristocracy or caste system you're truly stuck and your descendants are as well. Not so in the society we live in.

[k__]

But it shouldn't be that way. You shouldn't be stuck in the first place.