New blood from the commoners actually helps sustain the system in two ways. (1) They usually don't dilute anything, but rather add talent and ambition. Rememb

New blood from the commoners actually helps sustain the system in two ways. (1) They usually don't dilute anything, but rather add talent and ambition. Remember -- they got their scholarship by being smart and hungry. If they adopt the norms of their new class and make a pile of bucks, why not let them marry your daughter and go to Nantucket with you. (2) They add plausible deniability to the class structure -- we can say "look, this kid from a middle class family in West Virgina made it, there's no such thing as class structure." (Or "Clarence Thomas made it -- don't tell me about systemic racism".)