Will Barratt, Ph.D.
Adventurer and Emeritus Professor.
Note: I began to write this before the publicity about legacy admissions hit the press, and waited to see how that publicity played out. After a flutter of general indignation, and a few adjustments on a few campus, the press cover died a quiet death. I imagine that media editors and writers own Alma Maters had some psychological impact on those distinguished alumni.
Colleges have been a selective breeding ground for eons. College graduates tend to marry college graduates. High prestige college graduates tend to marry high prestige college graduates. Highly involved students tend to marry other highly involved students. The children of college graduates go to college, taking up a lot of space, typically 70% of a college class come from the 30% of the US population with at least a four year degree.
Legacy stude to are those who went to that college, as in Yale graduates' kids having preferred admission to Yale, as perhaps in the Bush family.
There is an extensive screening, filtering, and winnowing process for admission to prestige universities that begins with pre-school choices. Even before college applications, students are screened in order to provide a desired gene pool ("our kind of student") on campus. Yes, you can view anti-affirmative action points of view, which I call racism, as an attempt to keep a pure gene pool.
The psuedo screening mechanisms of the college admissions algorithms represent a formal process, letting the select few across that semi-permiable membrane onto campus.
College rankings (prestige) tend to further refine the selective breeding gene pool. Higher social class families have their children apply to higher prestige colleges. Bespoke educations for those who can afford it. Given the huge endowments of high prestige campuses, why do they charge any tuition? Well, to keep the poor people out of the selective breeding gene pool.
Why are campus rankings important. The question that is in the college choice algorithm in our heads can be distilled to "Will I, or my child, meet the right marriage partner?" Marketplace and Medieval thinking about children and marriage.
Graduation rates provide another screening mechanism, keeping college dropouts out of the gene pool further. A college dropout spouse is not a desirable commodity. (Yes, commodity, object, economic piece of the merchant and self assigned Nobel class).
Then there are graduate and professional degree programs. While there are many mixed educational attainment marriages, there is a lot of intermarriage among the 15% with post-baccalauriate degrees.
How it works.
Homophily and propinquity work well as descriptors of this systemic process that results in successful selective breeding.
Propinquity rules. Proximity is a key aspect of courtship and mate selection. Campus organizations provide proximity. Fraternities and sororities are designed for proximity to your chosen gender all within well defined social norms and roles. Student governance, honor society, organizational leadership positions and the like place people in proximity for the dating, mating, and marriage rutuals of the upper middle and upper classes. Campus experiences provide times and places for interpersonal interaction that may lead to ,arriage.
Is this intentional and conscious?
Yes
The selective breeding process on campus
Cultural capital rules. Learning or reinforcing normative upper middle class behaviors, attitudes, and mental processes is part of the college experience. Remedial social and dining etiquette programs are available, targeted at non normative (first generation students) students who have been deemed worthy.
tl;Dr prestige colleges are designed as selective breeding grounds, and legacy students are a key part of that system.
