Elite Schools Are Wasted On 90% Of Their Students

Whether they're elite boarding schools or elite colleges, most of the students are heartbreakingly unsuited to the best the instituions have to offer.  But that's also their inherent nature.  Elite schools are not elite because of elite students but because they're elitist.  Big diff.  Sure, there are some smart kids at Andover and Groton and Harvard and Williams, but most are just average or below kids who come from money or are otherwise important to the school in ways besides intellect.  Maybe 10% at any one time are the sharp, hard-working kids who are capable of extraordinary achievement.  Many of the rest are fine, but Yale could fill its undergraduate class with only the best students free-of-charge, but that's not what Yale is for.