>And for what it's worth, educational access has probably improved a
>great deal for women of all classes & the working class of both
>sexes and all races since the mid-20th century.
No "probably" about it - it has improved a great deal, especially on gender and race. The black/white education gap has narrowed very substantially, and there are now more women than men in college. Class - using income as the imperfect proxy - is another story; according to Tom Mortenson, who publishes the Iowa-based Post Secondary Education Access, there's been little narrowing of the gap between the likelihoods of kids from the top and bottom income quartiles going to college since 1970. In 1970, 28.2% of 18-24 year olds from the bottom income quartile were in college, vs. 73.5% of those from the top; in 1997, the numbers were 33.6% and 82.7%.
Doug