In the UK, opportunities for the working class are certainly much harder to come by. Entrance to many professions is closed-off by not going to the right private school, not having the money to pay for tuition to get into a grammar school or not having enough money or connections to work for free as an intern. Our government, businesses and the media are mostly run by privately educated individuals. We don't have "the American dream". It's not unsurprising to see why some parents might see state education as just day care.

Aren't unpaid internships mostly for industries that have shitty job prospects anyway?

I mean, I know unpaid internships are widespread in things like fashion design and poetry and journalism - but there's no need to do unpaid internships if you're trying to get into programming or accounting.

My point was that when people turn on their TV and they don't see people like them in the media and in the arts, it must not exactly inspire.

I don't think relying on primary and secondary education as glorified daycare is class-specific, or all that surprising a statement. Plenty of my HS and college classmates who are successful economically were complaining publicly about having to "deal with" their kids during the day while trying to work.