1. Vocabulary: catchment area (l.15); intriguingly (l.25); stratified (l.42); marginally (l.61); intractability (l.62); infringement (l.70; dilution (l.70);
2. Explain in your own words: educational credentials ( 17); It gives them “the wherewithal to pay for advantage” …(l.18); ossifying our society (l.35); The conspiracy against opportunity for all is almost complete (ll57/58);
3. Questions:
a. Describe in your own words what people do in order to improve the life chances of their children?
b. Guess what the author means when he says that the schools “have responded by delivering the results their parents know their children need. (l. 23);
c. Explain why the author employs dates and figures in ll. 34-43
d. Why is social mobility better on mainland Europe than in the UK and the US?
e. Summarize the author’s suggestions to achieve more social mobility.
Do you agree?