I do not see how "feckless" parents come into this. This is about financial situations and their roll in education.

The problem is access to learning materials for children at home for low income parents, this does not indicate they are bad parents. Also if you have a lower income you are more likely to live in a more economically deprived area and often schools in those areas have less resources and teachers per child. Its all obvious and I agree I don't think anyones suprised by the findings, but at least it is being adressed and highlighted.
I agree about the comment about access to a degree for poorer families. Low income students often have to work around uni (some full time with a full time course) which is a massive burden. There is some support available, it is not enough.

We are turning some of the brightest and most able children away from education, making a huge impact for the worse on thier lives perhaps.
The system is failing lower income children

C Berry, N. Wales,

Money has nothing to do with it. I'm currently a student at university and I am not from a wealthy background. If children want to succeed and are encouraged then they will. It's a question of how they are raised rather than how wealthy their parents are.

Sarah, Kent, UK.

Why oh why did they abolish most of the grammar schools? They were one of the best channels for advancement of bright but poor children. Comprehensives simply succeed in pulling down the brighter children and encouraging richer parents to move to private education

Ian, Frederick, USA MD

Many 'working-class' parents simply don't value education- I was told 'Schools don't teach useful things' by a bright teenager on a job trial, who proved incapable of learning simple tasks because lack of schooling meant she found the learning process itself difficult.

Nick, Nottingham, Notts

Get rid of titles in your country and everything else will fall into place.

Catherine, Chicago, USA

Dim?? Not very pc is it?

R Bingham, Lauzun, France

Feckless parents and crap schools. Anyway, who cares?

Aden Brill, Hereford, UK

Looking at the charts in the hard copy of The Times and it becomes very clear that the main story is NOT the REAL story we should be taking away from this.

OK, the headlines grab your attention but most importantly between the ages of 3 and 7 you see the brightest kids being pulled DOWN from a score 90% to around 70%.

The implication that ‘brightness’ is being dimmed is far, far more important.

Or have we turned into a culture celebrating ‘dimness’?

Gary Ward, Betley, UK

Why have these academics not made the connection between parental income and the ability to fund a degree course? Time to reduce the number of degree courses available and make them accessible to students whose parents have low incomes.

P Robbins, Cornwall,

The only surprising thing about this report is that anyone was surprised by it. I just hope that politicians don't start banging on about money and wealth as if this is the only or most important issue here. In my experience of living in an inner city area, the problem for many kids is not that their parents are materially poor, but rather that their parents seem to have abdicated any responsibility for the upbringing of their children. You can throw as much money at the problem as you like, but nothing will change until the cycle of poor parenting is broken.

Andrew Brown, derby, UK

A bright child will shine through regardless of their home life, providing they work hard.

VJay, London,

Why is this surprising? Social moblity has been massvely reduced full stop. Entrance to the top tier universities is dominated by the privately educated. Fees for private education are out of reach for most.

The idea of a job for life has disappeared - you are much less likely to get promoted to a senior role based on merit that 20 years ago. Increasingly an MBA is needed as the entrance ticket to senior roles.

Benefits such as share options and decent pensions are disappearing as the management of mid to large companies take more of the money for themselves.
The education system is reflecting society at large.

Dave, Reading, UK

This has just been puffed on the BBC radio news. The spin being applied seems to be setting up the 'middle class' parents as the culprits.

Surely this is, self-evidently, a major failing of the state educational system!

Ray, Dartmouth,