Good Money

This evening I met a girl who strongly believed that all private school children where spoilt and unpleasant. She saw their money as the median that paved the way to their arrogance and corrupt moral values.

As a private school student, who spends his life predominately surrounded by others with the same private school education, it becomes hard to provide a counter argument to her statements.
I have little evidence to compare the morality of a state school student with that of a public school contemporary and it’s therefore redundant to give a verdict on the subject without genuine experience to back up any opposing opinion I may have.
Even if I firmly feel my friends don't possess any of the qualities she mentioned (which they don't) I still cannot fully compare their morals with the morals of people I've been told are superior. The reason for this difference in attributes and manners, she said, is simply down to money. I found this a thought provoking notion. Does money make you a more dishonest person, with a lesser value for their fellow man? Or does it help promote Meritocracy (which may well be a bad thing) and entice people to strive for their goals and give billions of people a form of direction in their life? Maybe it’s a mix of the two? Perhaps money is a negative thing and we're better off living in an anarchic world where man is simply man and nothing more.

Although the answer to this may seem simple to some I personally struggle to come to a conclusion. Money makes things easier for people. With money you can afford luxuries and generally enjoy a more care free existence.
However, the society in which the majority of the world endures benefits those who are wealthy and creates hardship for those who aren't. Therefore currency is surely a bad thing.
On the other hand, without money many people will lose desire. We have been raised to believe that we must have an education to get a good job and to earn 'good money' and without that goal of wealth many will struggle to aim for anything. Of course, this is a generalisation but nevertheless any transition into a Marxist paradise where the nuance of competition is erased from mans psyche and all are viewed as equal, is going to be a phenomenally laborious and probably an impossible task.

I personally believe that the girl tonight was wrong. What was clear, though, is how money can divide people from childhood all the way into adulthood and lead to arguably naive or incorrect opinions regarding those with or without wealth. We are going to live and die in a society that depicts money as a necessity and one day, when I'm earning my own money for the specific reason of my wealth fare, it could act as a virus preventing my happiness. This I fear because surely the only true goal any of us have in this life is to be happy and make others happy. Anything that prevents that ultimate goal of happiness can never be considered an entirely positive entity.

What I learnt today is that money will always leave people making judgements over others and casually stereotyping them without truly understanding who they really are. It certainly has its plus sides but the struggle to possess it undoubtedly prevents many from reaching their full potential or fulfilling dreams that only money can buy.

I feel that many public school kids automatically see themselves as somewhat superior to those who attend state schools. Money allows them to be sent to such schools and thus contributes to the moulding of such a detrimental belief. This indirect link and resulting attitude of many private school pupils is directly responsible for the views the girl had this evening to dislike public school students.

It’s hugely unlikely any of us will be a part of a nation where there is no currency, no law and only natural rights that construct our morality but the very least that could be done is to give each child the same, preferably high, level of education.

Maybe our society will see equality of education one day and the dividing power of money will be reduced.