[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.