The United Kingdom's Social Mobility Commission study reports that disadvantaged children in England are being priced out of a cultural hinterland.
Children aged 10-15 from low-income families are three times less likely than wealthier peers to engage in out-of-school musical activities, such as learning an instrument etc.
There were also differences according to race - 4% of British Pakistani children took part in music classes, compared with 28% of Indian children and 20% of white children - and regional divides: 9% of children in north-east England played a musical instrument, compared with 22% in the south-east. Disadvantaged children are also more likely to miss out on extracurricular sports (football, boxing cricket) and drama, dance and art.
The commission set out recommendations, including bursaries, better funding and support for schools - let's hope they're taken on board.
As well as the activities themselves, children are missing out on other crucial gains including confidence-building,
team spirit and social skill, and are less likely to go on to higher education. Extracurricular activities tend to cost money, but there are also problems with a lack of availability and access, such as schools being unable to afford to run after-school clubs or stay open during holidays.
Another barrier is the kids' "fear of not fitting in". In this sense, certain children are self-excluding from, say, learning an instrument, singling in a choir, playing cricket or acting.
They decide by themselves that they're "underserving" of music, sport, art and drama.
Unbelievably, in 2019 children as young as 10 are already hard-wired with the self-limiting poverty notion of "not for the likes of us".
This is heartbreaking. It's hardly news that life is tougher for poor children, but it's an outrage if all sense of curiosity, artistry and playfulness is knocked out of them so early.
Something is wrong if better-off children feel entitled to explore and participate in areas that interest and excite them,
while the disadvantaged are cast from the start as cultural wallflowers - doomed to sit out every dance.
This isn't about every child learning the piano or violin (but why not?), it's about sowing the seeds for a cultural hinterland that will sustain and enrich them for life.
It's about people exploring their passions and refusing to have their horizons artificially limited.
Regardless of circumstances, all children should know that their faces "fit" - automatically and forever. Culture belongs to everyone.