You're absolutely right that elite = ivy when you're talking about social class, which clearly is what is going on here. What I'm trying to do is put in a claim on the word.
Ever read Henry James's "The American"? It's a story from the late 1800s about a wealthy American in Paris who, at one point, seeks to marry a young woman from an aristocratic French family. The brother (I think) informs him that there is a problem - "you are not noble". His reply (sorry, paraphrasing) is "the devil I am not!" The brother becomes more serious and says "oh, I didn't know that you had a title." The American says he doesn't have a title, but he's putting in a claim on this whole "noble" thing...
I guess that's what I'm doing. I won't concede the term "elite" to a parasitic upper class, any more than I'd give away the term "best and brightest" (oh, you see, I'm defining "best and brightest" to mean ivy league, hewh hewh").
I think that graduates of these schools should absolutely put in a claim on the word "elite". We may come off as a little comical, like Henry James's American... but in the long run, well look what happened to the French aristocracy ;)
Oh, one quick thing - I agree with you that you're more likely to encounter real economic diversity at the large state schools (even the top ones) than at the ivies, but I still want to make sure I point out that it would be extremely very unfair to suggest that ivy leaguers are a uniformly "parasitic upper class" group. Hell, it would have probably even been somewhat unfair in 1958. It's definitely not fair now.
That said, there really is something about engineering - probably it's history as more of a middle-class profession. I read that John Nash was deeply disappointed to get a faculty appointment at MIT rather than Harvard out of his PhD program (at Princeton, I think it was). The author of the biography had to take an aside to explain to 21st century readers that at the time, the math dept at MIT was still viewed somewhat as place where middle class engineers learned their calculus, though it was in the midst of transitioning into the elite school it is now (John Nash was the sort of acquisition MIT was starting to make).
As 2x UC Berkeley dropout and Columbia alum who financed his education by working as a paramedic in the Bronx, I can unambiguously say that I know EXACTLY what the author is talking about.
The Ivies offer you access to power in a way that even the best state schools never can or will. There is a sense of entitlement, a "welcome to the ruling class" sensibility that permeates the place. The Old Boys Club, indeed.
My experience is mainly New York, but the elite mentality runs deep.
And since switching coasts, I've left that behind. It feels great.
The problem is that "elite" doesn't just mean "best", and never did. Look at the etymology [1]: it just means "chosen", which is exactly what it means when referring to the Ivy League.
Ever read Henry James's "The American"? It's a story from the late 1800s about a wealthy American in Paris who, at one point, seeks to marry a young woman from an aristocratic French family. The brother (I think) informs him that there is a problem - "you are not noble". His reply (sorry, paraphrasing) is "the devil I am not!" The brother becomes more serious and says "oh, I didn't know that you had a title." The American says he doesn't have a title, but he's putting in a claim on this whole "noble" thing...
I guess that's what I'm doing. I won't concede the term "elite" to a parasitic upper class, any more than I'd give away the term "best and brightest" (oh, you see, I'm defining "best and brightest" to mean ivy league, hewh hewh").
I think that graduates of these schools should absolutely put in a claim on the word "elite". We may come off as a little comical, like Henry James's American... but in the long run, well look what happened to the French aristocracy ;)
Oh, one quick thing - I agree with you that you're more likely to encounter real economic diversity at the large state schools (even the top ones) than at the ivies, but I still want to make sure I point out that it would be extremely very unfair to suggest that ivy leaguers are a uniformly "parasitic upper class" group. Hell, it would have probably even been somewhat unfair in 1958. It's definitely not fair now.
That said, there really is something about engineering - probably it's history as more of a middle-class profession. I read that John Nash was deeply disappointed to get a faculty appointment at MIT rather than Harvard out of his PhD program (at Princeton, I think it was). The author of the biography had to take an aside to explain to 21st century readers that at the time, the math dept at MIT was still viewed somewhat as place where middle class engineers learned their calculus, though it was in the midst of transitioning into the elite school it is now (John Nash was the sort of acquisition MIT was starting to make).