How college became a ruthless competition divorced from learning
In some countries, like France and the United kingdom, the educational pyramid is even more skewed. In the United kingdom, graduates of Oxford University and Cambridge University are in a class of their own. Oxbridge alumni are overrepresented in politics, business, and the media. In France, the same phenomenon is at work with the École Polytechnique, the Écoles Normales Supérieures, and a few others. This creates sharp social stratifications and popular resentment among working people that &quot;elites&quot; (defined overwhelmingly as people with significant economic capital, political influence, and elite pedigrees) are detached from the reality on the ground. Donald Trump&#x27;s election in 2016 has been dissected and explained hundred different ways. But it is undeniable that his victory (despite the fact that he lost the popular vote by approximately three million) is attributable in part to popular resentment against political and business elites.<p>Countries with more equal societies, like the Nordics, and Canada, do not have strong populist movements like those in the US and the UK.<p>This is only going to get worse. The ruthless competition to get into elite colleges is both a cause, and a product of, economic inequality. The article mentions that the graduates of law schools ranked in the top 10 earn 50% more than the graduates of law schools ranked 21-100, and that investment banks recruit mostly from a handful of targets.<p>If prospective law students were confident they could earn 90% as much, or 100% as much, as graduates from T-10 law schools, if they attended lower ranked schools, there wouldn&#x27;t be so much competition to get into the same handful of elite schools.<p>This winner take all economy is stupid, and it&#x27;s making us sick in pursuit of success. People should act in their best personal interests, and this competition is the result. We can&#x27;t blame parents for wanting the best outcomes for their children. But everyone deserves a bit of blame, some more than others, for helping make American society so unequal.