Social Class of The Masses

No matter how much each of us believe that social class shouldn't dictate how our lives progress... it does. Beginning in preschool, children will receive basically the same education up until high school. In this stage in the young adolescent's life, the pathways of each social class: lower class, middle class, and upper class. Up until this point the only differences may be the prestige of their public and private school, no as high school may near its end, many students within the lower class will struggle to reach graduation while middle class and upper class teenagers will find it unacceptable to even fathom dropping out of high school. While the lower class may go off to community college but will most likely enter into a manual labor job that does require much schooling. Middle class residents will move on to college and enter into either a "white-collar" field where they will become a skilled laborer or if they are upper middle class, will enter into a field of highly skilled jobs. Upper class will attend college and graduate school which will allow them to become some of the most influential and well educated people on the planet. While the American dream does place the idea in the world's head that no matter what class you are you can always work your way to the top. But in reality there is a very small percentage of American society that has the ability to move up in the social scheme of things, but it requires a lot of finesse and ingenious. On the other hand, moving down in the American social takes nothing more than a dip in the economy to cause a loss in job and eventually a loss in house. In other countries such as India, people don't have the luxury of even attempting to work up their social ladder, but at the same time, they are secure in the class they are in knowing they can't possibly fall down. In India, the caste dictates not only the type of education you receive but the friends and people you associate yourself with. In the US, social class truly only starts to matter on an interactive basis between people, after high school when the educational train takes off for some but leaves other behind. People are completely restricted by their social class in India from birth until death, while in the US, we are a tad more free to do as we please up until a certain age. In high school, kids are just beginning to notice truly disparaging differences in social class but it hasn't yet affected them as badly as it does with adults, who seem to be the 'judgiest' of people when it comes of the deciding factor of social classes. They constantly strive to be associated with a higher social class of people while simultaneously shunning those even a step below them. There is no possibility that anyone can say that they don't take social class into account no matter where they live. The lower class always wanting to be higher and the upper class looking down at the little people below. Is this really how our world should be working? Or should we be elevating ourselves above the stereotype that social class dictates all?