For decades the belief among many educated by the state was that the arrogance and sense of entitlement that is instilled at public school secured the best jobs and highest pay.
That has been debunked, however, with a study concluding that those with the best education get the most pay, and that bluster counts for little.
A longterm study by the Institute of Education at University College London found that independent-school pupils had higher wages because, in the main, they had performed well academically. This accounted for almost all of the pay premium for women, and about half of it for men, suggesting that self-belief and connections do count for something for men in the workplace.
Privately educated men earn a third more than state-educated