Poor White Boys and Poor White Girls

I read this in a news digest today. I find the last sentence fascinating:

"More must be done to address the under-achievement of children from poor, white communities, MPs on the Commons Education Select Committee say. The Commons education committee has today published its report on underachievement in education. The BBC says that white working-class children do worst at school. The Financial Timesreports that (£) poor white children are outperformed by poor children from all other ethnic groups. The Daily Telegraph suggests a longer school day would help. The Independent agrees, The Times says that the gap between rich and poor is (£) evident at the age of five. We have a report, available only to subscribers to HE, which highlights how the committee ignored advice to focus on white working-class boys. The more disadvantaged young men are, the less likely they are to aspire to higher education; the reverse is true for women, according to figures published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. (Research Fortnight, 18/06/2014)"