@JHS
Yes, I accept that my statement is a gross simplification, but I would say neither Harvard nor Stanford are the best universities in the country, let alone the world, they are the most well-known/hardest to get in, that didn’t make them into the best. It is impossible to say any given school is the best. Human ingenuity comes in many forms and the breakthroughs come from many fronts, fortunately.
For the last 150 years, most scientific breakthroughs didn’t come from Harvard. But we are digressing.
Elite colleges are so competitive, reflected by the “varsity blues” kind of scandals, as well as children of politicians’ and super riches (which often overlap, these days) are all clambering in. We discussed ad nauseam race and money’s roles in elite college admission, why not also discuss power’s role a little? Why it is perfectly ok to discuss affirmative action of race, but not the de facto affirmative action of power?