Elite Universities and the Privileged

I spent this morning reading the article “All the Privileged Must Have Prizes” on the Times Higher Education. In his piece, Mr Summers decries the sense of entitlement possessed by kids who study in “elite universities”. Among the important issues he raises are the purpose of higher education, the function of “elite universities”, and grade inflation in American higher education today. It is a criticism of the current structure of American higher education, in particular elite universities, [on] how the system has been [a subset of the larger game of market capitalism], influenced by those who wield power and money. The comments thread was exceptionally lengthy and easily one of the [most] intellectual I have seen. I don’t think I need to rehash some of the comments already made (or disagreed upon) here.

That also reminds me of an excellent piece I read some time ago, on “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education“. I think the most important question that needs to be answered is: suppose some, or all, of the observations made are true, what ought to be done about it? Another question: in the market economy, [what price introspection and intellectual growth]?