Conscious of class 2

You report the conclusions of a report for the Council for Industry and Higher Education on the impact of social class on the financial returns of different degrees. The council believes that employers must play their part in persuading working-class students of the benefits of investing in higher education.

I wonder whether members of this council feel that their chief executive's use of the expression "the unwashed" to refer to working-class students in this context is helpful? Maybe the wrong social skills were bred into him at an early age, or perhaps he just comes from the wrong side of the tracks?

Paul Burton
Faculty of social sciences
University of Bristol