> I feel the true, primary function of these institutions is to give the rich and powerful a means to identify each other and their respective pedigrees. That

> I feel the true, primary function of these institutions is to give the rich and powerful a means to identify each other and their respective pedigrees. That has been true for a long time. And before then, the primary function of those institutions was training ministers. Joking aside, there's lots of evidence (assembled in a book like The Cult of Smart [1]) that the effects of education are saturated in developed countries. In other words, you won't get an appreciably better education at a prestigious school than you will at an unprestigious school. The biggest educational difference arises from the composition of the student body, not the actual instruction. So many young people are working themselves raw in high school and college to be prestigious when it doesn't have much of an effect on outcomes. Couple that with an antiquated curriculum and the modern college experience is so much wheel spinning. [1] https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250200389/thecultofsmart https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250200389/thecultofsmart