That the expansion of college education in the US means that bright children are now more likely to attend prestigious universities and marry other intelligent people than they were a century ago has long been known (The week in higher education, 14 June). As Malvina Reynolds' Little Boxes (1962) puts it:
And the people in the houses
All go to the university, And they all get put in boxes
Little boxes, all the same
And there's doctors and there's lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same ...
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.
Peter B. Baker, London