I literally couldn't finish the article. It is garbage and unresearched, and plays on lazy stereotypes and resentment. It's an athletic league, first. I know i

I literally couldn't finish the article. It is garbage and unresearched, and plays on lazy stereotypes and resentment. It's an athletic league, first. I know it has a common language meaning, but it's just an athletic league like the PAC 12 or SEC. And scandals aside, they are highly competitive for teachers and students. There is a network effect here at undergrad through faculty recruitment, and it's inevitable: the best students want to go where the best teachers are. The best graduate students want to go where the best research is. The best researchers want to go where the best facilities and chance at grants are. Currently it is the Ivy League, but if that disappeared something like it would reappear. Stratification is a fact of the human condition, and where stratification exists concentration will occur. It's the obligation of society limit things it can, like ensuring social mobility and equitable access and distribution of wealth. edit: The reason people so rightfully annoyed at admission scandals (particularly alumni/students) is because it's a free rider scenario. Ultra-wealthy cheat to get their students into elite schools because they free ride the reputation of the rest of kids that sacrifice part of their youths to rack up the accomplishments necessary for admission. You can see this, because it isn't just Ivies; the last scandal included Stanford.