Which is hopefully motivation to move away from old models of academia, although I really don't think that's feasible in the near future. Elite schools are just

Which is hopefully motivation to move away from old models of academia, although I really don't think that's feasible in the near future. Elite schools are just as much about pre-selecting smart people for others' benefit as they are about teaching, and this effect stacks: you can get a great job largely because of a prestigious graduate degree, which was easier to get because of your prestigious undergraduate degree, which you got by being an overachiever in high school... until the person you were at 17, despite the clear differences with who you are today, becomes awfully important.