“The Edwardian villas that line Druid Stoke Avenue in Bristol’s exclusive suburb of Sneyd Park can fetch £900,000, even in today’s economic climate. Tall, immaculate hedges or metal gates shield them from passers-by who otherwise might stop to gawp at their size, or at the three shiny cars parked in the drive. ‘Yes, there’s an expectation that children round here would go to university,’ says Jane, who lives on the street. ‘It’s drilled into them from an early age.’ Which universities? ‘There’s the prestige of Oxford and Cambridge, then there’s Bristol, less than three miles away,’ she says. Children from homes in this income bracket are more than four-and-a-half times more likely to go to a high-ranking university – one that asks for at least three Bs at A-level – than the average child in the UK, new data shows. And they are nearly twice as likely to go to university at all …” (more)
[Jessica Shepherd, Guardian, 3 February]