I've often thought that America's goofy and somewhat unfair admissions system is actually a blessing in disguise.
Most countries have only a handful of excellent colleges, and the vast majority of the bright people end up at a small number of them. This means that it matters a great deal, in these countries, where you went to school.
In the US, partly as a consequence of the silly admissions system, the talent's much more widely spread around. So there are more colleges worth teaching at, and consequently we have 50-100 excellent schools. It also doesn't matter, because of this, nearly as much where one goes to school; it's almost irrelevant after the first job.
- College admissions is a horrible, flawed process.
- Standardized testing is a horrible, flawed process.
- Education is being treated like a commodity.
- It's not the school you go to; its what you do with the time that you are there.