For many people the revelation that social class is an important factor in how well pupils do at school is a bit like an exclusive report revealing that the sun comes up every morning, writes Matthew Taylor.
But today's findings, in a joint study by academics at University College and Kings College London, reveals, with hard empirical research, the overwhelming extent to which social class determines people's educational chances.
As the authors point out the findings have huge ramifications for schools, teachers, parents and most importantly of course pupils.
But it should also make politicians, who are currently arguing about the future of the country's schools, shuffle uncomfortably in their seats.
Those with their hands on the levers of power must face facts. Class, that unfashionable phrase, is at the root of educational achievement; the best outcome for the most pupils is achieved by having a mixed social intake in all schools, and that according to the researchers, won't happen by introducing a free [or partially free] market into schools.
Hard choices (beloved of Mr Blair) loom. Ministers must decide whether they are prepared to enforce a mix of pupils on schools ensuring that none become the preserve of exclusively middle class children or serve only those children from economically and socially deprived backgrounds.
But perhaps the most important lesson is that the education debate can not be a completely separate argument about school structures or teaching methods, it has to be seen as part of the wider battle to raise living standards and tackle deprivation across the country.
Like the sun coming up every morning, it's not that much of a revelation - but its pretty important stuff.
