NOVA Speech Contest: Closing Speech and Supporting PPT

 Nova Speech Contest

Luis Melo H., Stp 10 Blue

American School

Good Morning. 

First of all  I would like to welcome you all to my school. I hope you enjoy your time here as well as this great contest. Let’s define what social classes are:  Sociologists, Economists , and experts like to define social classes as a group of individuals who occupy a similar position in the economic system of production.  Within that system occupation is very important because it provides financial rewards, stability and benefits like healthcare, social security, personal grooming, education or basically basic necessities. There are official social classes in the United States, which are also the same in most first world countries.

Many sociologists suggest five:

Upper Class – Elite

Capitalist Elite. Land lords, national and international businessmen, stock owners, individuals with political positions and more. They are the ones who basically rule the game. 

Upper Middle class 

people with comfortable living conditions who are in most cases contributing to the betterment of society. Represent scientific and technical knowledge – engineers, accountants, lawyers, architects, university faculty, managers and directors of public and private organizations. Have both high incomes and high social prestige. Well-educated. In first world countries such as the United States of America, this is the most common social class, which also indicates a country's success.

 

Lower Middle Class

Many Families worldwide whose incomes are not low enough to place them in poverty live in economically dubious situations. This struggling lower-middle class consists of the 30 percent of working-age families with children who have incomes between 100 and 250 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), or between roughly $15,000 and $60,000, depending on family composition. Though not officially poor, these individuals and families experience limited economic stability. One major setback could thrust them into economic chaos.These types or families are often factory workers, low range people in companies, the third hand in a job, people that have recently migrated and more.

 

Working Class

The most popular definition , used by many socialists as a Karl Marx, is that the working class includes all those who “have nothing to sell but their labor. Nothing to offer but their hands, sweat and blood”. These people used to be referred to as the proletariat, often with very limited educational options. In some cases they receive a certain amount of resources from the government’s hand, such as regulated amounts of food, cheap health insurances and basic social securities.

 

Poor

Poverty is a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living. Poverty means that the income level from employment is so low that basic human needs can't be met. Poverty-stricken people and families might go without proper housing, clean water, healthy food, and medical attention. Each nation may have its own criteria for determining how many of its people are living in poverty. It could be said that parents in charge of these kinds of families are fighting on a daily basis to survive.

Now that we have described all official social classes let’s get into matter

Think you can, and you will. I don’t have the first idea who invented this quote, but if I do know something is that it has filled  countless motivational and self help books. It invites us to keep a positive attitude towards life, a fearless mind where no matter what our problems are, we can make it through them. We can follow a path of goodwill and succeed. We can do anything we set our minds to. But now… is it really helpful? Has it really worked? Maybe not. Because the environment we grow up in and the situations we have had to face since our early childhood, and our position in society’s hierarchy can be key to determine one’s future success or failure. It also depends on how much confidence, hard work and strong will we have within ourselves, not in a corny quote from a 20$ book. 

Now it’s the moment to compare how overconfident about their skills and therefore their success are people grown in abundance, compared to how people grow in hunger.

In recent years, several investigations have concluded that individuals who have been more economically privileged tend to be more narcissistic and confident about their abilities and future goals, although their intelligence is no higher than the average. 

The researchers point out that this supine self-confidence is related to their desire to perpetuate the position, but that it is not the only cause. "People of higher status will have to face fewer challenges throughout their lives, which makes them more self-confident. We take credit for our achievements, often neglecting those other circumstances that have led to those successes," assures David Dunning. 

Now let’s talk about how perception is a double edged sword

Whenever people’s confidence breaks the limits of their own capacities and their expectations are bigger than their results it takes them to try the most bitter flavor: defeat and self disappointment. Their overconfidence tends to make them think they are invincible. There is no range for failure. Their actions are always backed up by some kind of divine intervention that they see just as their ability to turn things in gold, which makes them take bigger risks. And more often and often and often, until life once more proves that nobody is relentless, and they bite the dust. There is a tremendous loss of talent, because the most intelligent people are not always or necessarily hired. And being governed by mediocre people is a problem," warns Ildefonso Marqués. The solution? According to the professor at the University of Seville, real meritocracy: a little more bureaucracy or institutionalization (for example, access exams for certain jobs) that establish game lines if not equal, at least known by any individual.

Now is the time to talk about governments. To what extent is the lack of opportunities the fault of the government? Is equity as difficult to achieve as it is proposed? Although much has been said about how social classes should not exist, because as long as there is a social class, there will be differences between them. As long as the world is about winners and losers, the balance will never be fair. Although many of these theories have been supported and may sound tempting, the reality is that the existence of social classes is something very human.

In government systems where social classes do not exist, in which equality of conditions has been promised as the fundamental axis of this philosophy, the only thing they have achieved is that everyone is equally poor.

My personal conclusion is based on the fact that the phrase: "The one who is poor is poor because he wants to" is totally invalid. Poverty is something you can get out of and success is a rocky and complicated road even more so for those who were not born having it all. We cannot judge people who never get out of poverty, just as we cannot compare them with people who have. The context of each human being is totally different between each other and being  judgemental is just selfish and ethically empty. How nice it would live in a world where everyone was treated equally in spite of their social class and economic situation. How nice it would be to care for each other,How nice would it be in a world where in spite of social classes, everyone had the same opportunities and the same education.

To finish, how  nice it has been to have you all here.

Thank you very much!

Supporting PPT: