Is their position untenable? If, lacking the resources to place their child into elite circles of society they perceive their child will instead be treated as a vehicle for exploitation, is it irrational for them to withold siring would-be blighted offspring to the world?

But this is natural. In every society, vast majority are the exploited poor, and always have been. It shouldn't stop them from multiplying.

I would point out that at least in the US, the degree to which the poor are exploited has been ever-increasing for over a half century with no signs of reversing. If anything, it's accelerating.

> But now, everyone wants their kid to be among the elite - or never exist at all.

This isn’t remotely true.

In the UAE, you pay for your kids education from day one to the end. There’s no free ride, unless you’re a local. I’m not sure how many other countries are like this.

I’d say most countries provide free education to their residents. But, not all.

For CITIZENS, all of them do. Naturally in UAE there are few citizens. I have no idea why temporary, non immigrant foreigners should be entitled to free anything. There is no naturalization in UAE, you can't ever get citizenship regardless of years of residence or being born in the country - only way to it is direct male line from 1915 (something i think more countries should practice). So why fund someone who's outsider and who, will, and his descendants, always remain outsiders on temporary visas?

Yeah your original post didn’t state citizens.

It’s common for residents to receive free primary education for their children in most countries. Eg UK, AU, NZ, Canada all do. Work visa or permanent resident visa.

Got few job offers from there. All included healthcare and school fees up to three kids. I don’t think, that outsiders go to that part of the world just for schools. So at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter if school is free or paid by employer.

Yes agree a lot do include education. But, not all the jobs there come with such perks.