For the main fact that emerges from the figures is that the children of families which have worked hard to achieve status, recognition and prosperity do very much better than the children of families that get their food, shelter and clothing by sitting on the couch, watching the television and waiting for the giro. It is hardly surprising.

Children learn by example and the example set by their parents is critical to their success.

Of course, this pattern is not inevitable. Far from it. There was a time when bright children from the underclass were selected to be educated with the children of more successful families. They might go to independent schools, under the assisted places scheme, or, even longer ago, to the great grammar schools which graced every town in the land.

Instead of emulating their parents, these children got sucked into the values and standards of their classmates and emulated them, to great effect. In those days, Oxford and Cambridge had no difficulty finding well qualified youngsters from poor backgrounds to become undergraduates.

They made no concessions. They expected the same grades from them. They required the same degree of hard work. But they found plenty of them.

Today, unfortunately, all three of our major political parties are opposed to giving poor children a leg up in this way. Instead, they simply accept that, under the comprehensive system, the children of the underclass will do badly at school and insist that Oxford and Cambridge accept poorly qualified candidates, purely on the basis of their social class. And they also mess around with the grades so everyone can "succeed".

It is depressing to watch the antics of our Government in "dealing" with this problem.

The schools attended by the underclass are all being rebuilt and expensively kitted out.

They are all getting more and better paid teachers. No expense is being spared. But it is not yielding results and there is no reason to believe it ever will.

The really unpleasant truth is that a child whose parents teach him, by regular, unremitting, daily example, that the natural way to achieve what he needs in life is to sit on the couch, watch television and leave it to others to do the work for him is likely to learn that lesson and fail at school.

In truth, there are only three ways of bringing this waste to an end.

One is to stop paying parents to teach that lesson.

The second is to apply moral pressure to the parents to stop teaching the lesson and thereby damaging their children.

And the third is to immerse clever children from the underclass in a different attitude by re-establishing the grammar schools and reinstating the assisted places scheme.