It really is striking just how good looking many of the students are, especially compared to students from the local comprehensive. And given the educational values of this school it's a given that most of the students will be aiming for Oxbridge and high-flying careers in business, law and the media.
So I'm not totally skeptical about a correlation. Although working out the cause is much harder. I'd expect a strong element of class advantage in exam performance. And presumably, in a very simple Darwinian sense, more status and more money means you have a wider pick of potential partners, and are more likely to end up with someone considered visually desirable. So there's potential for a positive feedback effect to trend towards gene pool stratification.
(Which is not to suggest that good looks cause or always imply intelligence, or that lack of good looks suggests stupidity, of course.)
The very top of the hyerarchy let it get to their head, they start inbreeding and turn ugly and stupid but retain the power and status. guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
(I can only tease you like that because you're my boyfriend. But given your usually impeccable spelling, I'm a bit surprised!) "If you cannot say what you have to say in twenty minutes, you should go away and write a book about it." Lord Brabazon
