Regarding wealth, there is a saying in foreign countries: the rich are called rich, and the rich are called wealthy. What's the difference? for example. The stars of the NBA all make a lot of money, but once they retire, those fortunes quickly diminish. And those long-lived family businesses in the world have survived the economic crisis or the world war, and their wealth has been passed down from generation to generation. The rich are not necessarily the upper class, the rich are the people who really control the resources. In the movie "Starting Line", we can see the difference between the two more clearly.
The film tells the story of a middle-class couple who did everything possible to send their children to an aristocratic school. The male protagonist Raj is the owner of a fashion brand store. He owns a luxury car and a mansion. He has a beautiful and elegant wife and a lovely daughter. He is the standard life of a successful person. But his daughter is still turned away, why? Because famous schools have thresholds, and he is not a real upper-class elite. These thresholds also directly illustrate the difference and gap between a rich person and the real upper class. So, let's take a look at how many thresholds there are to enter an aristocratic school.
1. Your professional background is your first identity.
Although there is no distinction between high and low occupations, there are high and low thresholds. For example, when recruiting international well-known large companies and financial institutions, those who are not from top universities such as Harvard and Yale are not accepted. Another example, not long ago, the news broke that a large company is not a graduate of 985,211 colleges and universities. Behind every glamorous career, there is a high threshold. Therefore, their occupation is also a proof of comprehensive ability. The value attached behind it can also be quantified and evaluated. One can easily determine the class a person belongs to from his professional background. In the movie, wife Mitu takes her daughter to play in the park where the rich children are. As a result, no one wanted to play with their daughter. Because the language my daughter speaks is Hindi.
Hindi is the native language of India, but the official language is English. There is an unwritten social rule in India that the elites all speak English. Most of the civilians do not understand English because of the lack of educational opportunities. Of course, the child's view of right and wrong is very simple, and he may not necessarily understand why he does so. But adults are very direct. The little boy's mother directly told her that the reason why the child was not allowed to play with her was because her parents were just shopkeepers. The implication is to draw a clear line with her. Because of the couple's professional background, the schools that the daughter applied to were all rejected. The person in charge told them that the rejection was because the school did not want to hire the shop owner's child. Even Raj retorted that he was not a store but a fashion brand. But from the point of view of the upper class, it is a small business, and there is not much difference. This was the main reason why his daughter could not be admitted to the noble school.
2. Educational background is the identity label of the rich.
Just as many U.S. presidents and politicians were born in top universities such as Yale and Harvard, and British aristocratic elites were born in aristocratic public schools, differences in educational background have drawn class boundaries. The real upper classes receive elite education, which is characterized by a combination of academics and humanities. They not only attach importance to the cultivation of subject level, and use the best educational resources to cultivate students; they also attach importance to the cultivation of students' humanistic quality, arrange various humanities, arts, sports, and activities for students, and focus on training students' speech, social interaction, and business affairs. and many other abilities. Therefore, people who have received elite education are not only intellectually far superior to ordinary people, but their thinking and pattern have already drawn a clear line between you and me. In the movie "Starting Line", Raj and his wife want to send their daughter to an aristocratic school in Delhi. They have money and connections, but they still can't get in. After being contacted by a friend, they found a training agency to help them pass the interview. They are very confident in their children, and they think there is no reason for them not to accept them from good schools. The person in charge of the agency did not explain, and directly asked a little boy to demonstrate. The little boy was generous and greeted them in several languages, stunned the couple. The difference is clear at a glance. Their daughter's competitors were already ahead of them by an unknown amount. The person in charge of this agency clearly told them that the interview of a good school depends on their parents' academic qualifications. Because the school believes that the education background of the parents is not good enough, and the education of the children will not be good. (This sentence is cruel, but it is also true. For example: During the mock interview, the person in charge asked, "What would you do if your child does not want to go to school?" Raj's answer was, "If you go to school, I will give You have a lollipop." The person in charge was shocked that it was wrong to bribe children. This shows that the level of education determines the quality of education methods.) She suggested that they started too late. Because both husband and wife graduated from public schools, there is basically no hope. The person in charge further said that it was not the child's fault, and the competition had already started from pregnancy. Indeed, the competition has already begun in the parents' generation. Letting kids win at the starting line is actually self-deception, because they are already lost from birth. Unless the children's competitors are the same low-level children. This is also one of the main reasons why the daughter of the Raj couple cannot enter the aristocratic school.
3. Your taste reveals your class.
People in the middle class pretentiously imagine life in the upper class. But in the eyes of the real upper class, it is a joke. The couple bought a school district and moved to an upper-class neighborhood. And threw a party at home and invited neighbors to attend. At the elegant banquet with fragrant clothes and shadows on the temples and visiting guests, a dynamic folk dance was suddenly played. Raj suddenly danced, everyone looked at him with contemptuous smiles, and his wife walked out the door angrily and pulled the switch. The wife loses her temper because of her husband's humiliation, but Raj doesn't understand where he is wrong. Because of his limited knowledge, he did not know the aesthetics and tastes of the upper class, which were separated from the mundane atmosphere and accompanied by low-key elegance. The couple lost face again, and it was the person in charge of the agency who asked them to change their image. As a result, the couple wore a big-name logo, and when they walked, the aura of local tyrants was three meters away. When the person in charge saw the two, he immediately laughed. The real upper class does not like to show off their wealth, and those who show off their wealth are the upstarts. The person in charge recommended them to a senior stylist. The two people who have been transformed look much more advanced. The second major transformation of the two of them by the training institution is the language expression-conversation. The couple's language skills are really lacking. The application form is filled with incomprehensible words, and they do not explain the advantages of their daughter. It sounds like they are full of words. The person in charge had no choice but to recommend a writer to help write the application form and teach couples the standard answer routines during interviews. However, none of this came from self-cultivation, so the couple was full of holes in the interview and ended up screwing up the interview. Therefore, money cannot buy taste, because advanced aesthetics are not developed in a day. Only after long-term infiltration in the upper class can it be formed with the growth and precipitation of knowledge.
4. The ability to make rules.
Since the Age of Navigation, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States have successively mastered the right to speak in the world and have the ability to formulate rules. Countries in the world only follow their lead. Generally speaking, those who make the rules own wealth and resources, and those who follow the rules work hard and compete for resources. In the movie, parents lined up to sign up at 12 am or even earlier, just to fight for a limited number of places. However, the school has reserved places for the wealthy class. As the beneficiary of the rules, the headmistress is even more outspoken. Only by opening up high-quality educational resources to the wealthy can she continue to benefit from it. That's why she doesn't accept bribes from the lower classes. It's not that she doesn't love money, it's just that she values long-term benefits more. At the end of the film, Raj won a place as a poor student for his daughter by pretending to be poor. Because of his uneasy conscience, he decided to withdraw his daughter from school and gave a speech. He first stated his own experience and reflected on his past, and then criticized the vested beneficiaries of educational resources, turning education into a business, and depriving the poor of their right to education. But to be honest, the speech wasn't powerful and didn't resonate much. From beginning to end, only his wife applauds him. Because everyone here knows that no matter where in the world, only the rule-makers have the right to speak. Raj's speech does not affect the rules.
The original work of this film is in Hindi, but the Chinese translation is very interesting and has a profound meaning: Education, the starting line, is the starting line for children? Or the starting line for parents? The answer is obvious: you are the starting line for the child!
Many people are still fantasizing about how to let their children win at the starting line, but they do not know that the starting line for the children has already been drawn, and even the runways are already different. The truth is, sometimes it's not that you don't get something, it's that you're not strong enough to get it. However, these cruel facts are not the reasons for us to compromise and give up, but should be the driving force for you and me to move forward and struggle. Don't give up too early, when you struggle to a sufficient height, when you have the right to speak, you will naturally see the fair and beautiful side. -END-
View more about Hindi Medium reviews
