Higher education has always been elitist.

Universities were founded by religious leaders to supply an educated upper class to function in theocracies.

Then these schools changed into more secular minded goals of providing functionaries for the elite who ruled.

In both cases the choice of who would get such elevated positions in society was based on both connections and merit.

While higher educations has become more accessible over the centuries, the essential nature of elitism has not really gone away.

This is a hard thing to accept in an age when equality is thought of as an important goal. Universities may have changed to be flag bearers of equality in regards to social class, recent acceptance scandal aside, but there remains as essential the idea that academic achievement is a winnowing process.

In other words, a college degree is not a participation trophy.

Or should it be?

We might argue that turning colleges into sports minor-league machines have made degrees into participation trophies, but I still think those are a minority of degrees. Many athletes are also acceptable students.

Elitism may sound bad, but it is part of, and maybe essential, to a society.