Developments in verbal ability of low-educated people in the Netherlands: the downside of educational expansion In this article we elaborate on how education affects achievement in verbal ability, and to what extent the composition of the group of low-educated people has changed with respect to verbal ability. Employing representative data for the Netherlands in 2000 (N = 1.278), we find in each birth cohort that primary educated and lower secondary educated people have lower scores on verbal ability than higher educated. In addition, family background affects a person’s verbal ability achievement. Culturally active parents and parents with a cultural occupation encourage verbal ability in their children. As a consequence, low-educated people from advantageous backgrounds have the opportunity to compensate for their lack of schooling. Signs of marginalization are found in the changing composition of the group of low-educated people. For the low-educated, we find an outflow over birth cohorts of relatively talented people. This process has resulted in a group of low-educated people that is more homogeneous with respect to verbal ability nowadays and in which hidden talent has become increasingly scarce.