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Harvard is quite public with the fact that they reserve 30% year for "legacies". They don't even bother with the veneer of meritocracy. Just keeping the unwashe
by jazzyk 11y ago
Harvard is quite public with the fact that they reserve 30% year for "legacies". They don't even bother with the veneer of meritocracy. Just keeping the unwashed peasants away, you know
The Economist has had a couple of articles on how social mobility in the US is waay lower than it used to be and is now lower than in many European countries...
- plonh 11y agoIf they wanted the peasants away, they wouldn't charge zero tuition for peasants and keep 70% of the seats open. The legacies pay tuition for the peasants.
- jazzyk 11y agoAffluent families also pay full tuition everywhere else, without getting special preferences. Long story short - most colleges are about quotas these days, not pure meritocracies. But at least there is an egalitarian thought behind minority/diversity quotas. There is nothing egalitarian about "legacies".
- seren 11y agoAs European, I had never heard of the Legacy system before. This is kind of shocking, or at very least, at odd with my world view. However, I understand a little better why racial quota have been implemented in the US.