[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

The idea of an elite league is it takes a certain level of performance to get in. Is Major League Baseball a failure because only a tiny percentage make it? Should everyone make it to the bigs?

False analogy. Going to Harvard isn't about getting a better education, and it's not about getting there because you're just so durn meritorious that the Harvard admissions people were wowwed by your obvious intelligence and industriousness. It's about getting the Harvard name. Essentially, people are paying $200K for a piece of paper that says "Harvard" on it.

Ever hear of anything called "the Harvard number"? If not, then Google it.

[Huck]

It seems to me that in order to get into Harvard, you need the highest level of academic records, no? They have higher standards of admission than, say, a state college. So there is selectivity based on past performance.

As for getting the Harvard name, so what? It's a winning brand name. People try to get jobs with big name corporations for the same reason. They want Coca-Cola or IBM or Google on their resumes. What's wrong with that? Has Harvard's cache diminished?

Anyway, I didn't bother with college and I'm doing fine. I'm not a big booster of college. I just think Theil's argument is goofy. And oh yeah, anyone who didn't see the dot com bust or the housing bust coming is a complete moron.

[IamConservative]

It's about getting the Harvard name. Essentially, people are paying $200K for a piece of paper that says "Harvard" on it.

I've read that the Harvard endowment is so big that they could provide free education at the current size in perpetuity and never run out of money. I question "never", but none the less, they must have some serious money.

[indthkr]

Going to Harvard isn't about getting a better education

Plenty of evidence to support that argument....