In my experience of being a parent, what makes a school good is that your child can go it secure in the knowledge that he or she will not be teased, mocked, bullied or physically beaten in the course of the school day. And I am talking here about average state schools, and some private schools, not sink schools. That used to be a given. The educational establishment, from top to bottom, no longer tries to achieve this, and ridicules those who complain about it.

Bill, Norfolk,

Middle class children do best in middle class ('good') schools. Lower class children also do better when they can get into middle class schools. The insurmountable problem is that the higher the proportion of lower class children the less 'good' the school becomes. So moving children around and changing the proportions is no solution.

W Bell, Nottingham, UK

An excellent article. I attended an inner london state primary school. My parents' enthusiasm for academic success and cultural exploration helped me excel. Of course most of my friends turned out to be the children of middle class parents. I did mix with other children, but the main lessons I learnt from them were how to 'handle' myself (fight) and to use my intelligence to out-compete the 'slow-readers' when it came to getting vital attention from teachers. Some people might call them survival skills, and in many instances they have served me well, but in themselves they are not necessarily nice things, and if I had children, I am not sure I would be happy putting them through the 'school of hard knocks'.

As it was, I was frustrated by the constant effort required to learn and enjoy school. I pushed my leftwing parents to allow me to apply to the local private schools. I received an asissted place, and they never regretted it. 20 years on and nothing has changed.

Damon, London, UK

It's trying to figure out which came first the chicken or the egg. Making all schools good is the only way, in which ever way. The lottery might have a very small influency on it but I think that tackling the quality of school management and teachers would be a better start. Recently the local primary school our little girl would have gone to splashed out on several new computers. This would have been fantastic had it not been for the fact that a few weeks later they admitted not to have any money for new books! It's also known for bullying. I partly blame this on our selfish culture where we do not make time for proper parenting. This is not helped by the government pushing both parents to go to work instead of making sure one of them stays at home. But too often I hear stories of the 2nd parent going to work to support their own 'needs'. They use excuses like that their kid(s) gets to painting at day care! If you can't be bothered with activities like that at home your not a parent.

Barry, Shropshire,

The main question on the minds of parents (some of which are middle class) is 'will my child get a JOB at the end of all this?' The best chance of a getting good job (or even a job) is to be educated in a good school and the chance of an education at a sink school is zero because of disruption.

Remember - good children make good schools because teachers want to teach in a good school, middle class children tend to be less disruptive in class and they tend to speak English as a first language which helps with class cohesion.

My children play a second hand piano with some broken keys it doesn't mean anything apart from the fact that they are motivated and enjoy music.

VJB, London,

"white prep school bubble"

have you looked at the demographics of independent schools recently. Multicultural friendships abound,

My daughter is educated independently and the varieties of races, background, colours, shapes and sizes of her friends and their parents abounds!

Freda Mcdonald, Manchester,

The bottom line in any school is not so much which families attend but which teachers children actually get. Inevitably, in every school, even very good ones, there are some teachers who are consideably better than the rest.

In my experience, upwardly mobile parents are very clever at ensuring that their child is taught by the best teacher in the ye\r group or department. This can take a variety of forms from simply demanding that there child is not taught by Ms Not-So-Good, or subtly implying that all the children in the c lass would benefit from their child being in Ms Perfect's class.

I don't blame them for it but the parents I have described are very adept at getting their own way within the system. And of course they are invariably supportive.

C Clerkin, London, UK

Living in an affluent part of Surrey, if I had the money I had the choice of sending my sons to excellent and local private educational establishments; or to excellent state schools. I didn't have the money, but anyway would have chosen the latter. Throughout their education my sons have mixed with a cross-section of the local community and know how to interract with everyone (from the local traveller children to children of millionaires). The predominent social grouping is middle class.

Had the choice been between excellent private schools, or poor state provision and I had the money, I would have chosen differently. Yes, to an extent there is a desire for your child to mix with a comparable social grouping .... but the standard of the education is more important because that represents their chances in life. Mess that up, and you've failed them. (What I call the Dianne Abbot test!!!)

Donna Walker, Effingham, Surrey

To a large extent many bookish education minded working class families have produced middle class kids. Leaving a rump of people who can see little point in education unless they can be convinced it produces cash. Some are very anti culture and their kids make life hell for the remaining respectable working classes. This is less an issue in small towns and rural areas. The steady association made in society between the skilled working class and unemployable subculture is shocking. This leads to an even greater loss of confidence in working class communities. Since when did hard work and decent values combined with a traditional set of working class values make you a proto criminal. I think kids growing up caught between the contempt of the middle class and the mayhem brought into their lives by the children of drug addled parents have little hope today. You need some sort of critical mass of kids who have discipline and want to learn in a school for those children to have a chance.

Phil, london,

In the US the prevailing view is that academic success is all about money. Supposedly, children of middle-class families will thrive no matter where they are and children of poor families will be at-risk of failure regardless of school quality. Statistics will support the theory, but my personal opinion is that it has more to do with parenting skills. The link between parenting skills and socio-economic status is beyond me.

Julie, Fort Scott, US

"do middle-class parents hog the best schools or are schools best because middle-class parents hog them? " This is a vital question that is rarely posed in the debate about school admissions. In fact, unless or until we know the answer to this question we can't tackle the problem of good vs failing schools.

Anna, West Yorks,