Before a superb fairywren chick has seen the sky, and even before it has broken through its shell, it has already begun learning something essential to its survival: A password. During incubation, the mother repeatedly sings to her eggs. Embedded in her call is a distinctive signature sound. The developing embryos learn it, and after hatching incorporate elements of it into their begging calls. It is an extraordinary system of recognition. Belonging has a sound. Human beings have passwords too.

We prefer to believe that our schools, universities and workplaces judge people according to intelligence, character and ability. Yet almost every institution develops an invisible code of belonging. It may be an accent. A vocabulary. A manner of speaking.

Consider two equally intelligent children entering the same prestigious school. One comes........

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