Privilege is not just about wealth, status or education.

It is about how certain people can move through the world with ease, never having to question the rules.

It is about all those things that require no consideration, such as proving that you belong.

It is about the quiet certainty that things will always work out for you.

Privilege speaks in accents and silences, in those moments when someone displays their understanding of when they should speak and when they should remain quiet.

It is the confidence that can be mistaken for competence and the subtle assurance that you are safe, seen and important.

Elite schools, with all their prestige and reputation, teach this fluently, shaping a belief that success is not only possible but inevitable.

These are the places where the cycle of inequality is perfected, framing leadership as a birthright, preaching the gospel of merit, while trading on a subtext of inherited connections and status.

They turn privilege into a form of innocence, championing the belief that success is earned, rather than inherited.

They perpetuate the myth of meritocracy.

This is why questioning privilege is so uncomfortable. It challenges the very narrative we have been told about how the world works. That resilience, grit and hard work is more important than where you might start on some ladder.  

Those who benefit from privilege can feel this discomfort in the form of quiet guilt and shame, but instead of disrupting the system, it is often turned inward, leading to resistance, denial and the desperate need to rehash and rewrite their story.

Many posh boys seem to work particularly hard at adding a scuff mark here, or there, so they might dull an otherwise brightly polished social background.

We might tell ourselves that success is about merit alone, but the truth is far more complicated.

Privilege is more than influencing what you get, it shapes how you see the world and how the world sees you.

It is the unquestioned expectation of access to opportunity, networks and resources, as well as the reassurance you are always at least one step ahead of others.

We need to be clear about what fairness really means. It is not just about hard work and individual effort. It is, above all, about access. Until we stop confusing merit with privilege, and stop pretending that a corner office is earned by hard work alone, we will continue to misunderstand how power and opportunity are distributed.