When David Brooks wrote the cover story for The Atlantic titled How the Ivy League Broke America, it wasn't just another op-ed about college admissions. It was an autopsy of a dream. We’ve been told for decades that if you’re smart and you work hard, you get into a top school, and that’s how we find our leaders. It's the meritocracy. But Brooks argued that this very system—the one we thought was fair—actually fractured the country.
It’s a tough pill to swallow.
Think about it. We shifted from an old-money aristocracy where you got ahead because your last name was Rockefeller, to a new system where you get ahead because you got a 1580 on your SAT. On paper, that sounds great. It sounds like progress. But as the article pointed out, we ended up creating a new kind of elite that is just as insulated, just as powerful, and arguably more self-righteous than the one it replaced.
The Meritocracy Trap and the 1960s Pivot
The core of how the Ivy League broke America The Atlantic piece rests on a specific historical shift. Back in the middle of the 20th century, the Ivy League was basically a finishing school for the WASP elite. If you went to Groton or Andover, you were in. It didn't matter if you were particularly bright; it mattered who your father was.
Then came the reformers. People like James Bryant Conant at Harvard wanted to blow that up. They wanted a "natural aristocracy." They started using standardized testing to find the smartest kids from everywhere—not just the rich kids.
But here’s the kicker: it worked too well.
Instead of creating a rotating door of talent, it created a permanent class of "super-educated" people who marry each other, live in the same five zip codes, and pass their advantages down to their kids in ways that a simple test can't fix. It’s not about trust funds anymore; it’s about "human capital." It's about the tutoring, the travel, and the relentless pressure to be perfect by age 17.
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Why the "Best and Brightest" Are Often the Problem
Brooks is pretty blunt about this. When you tell a group of people from birth that they are the "best" because they jumped through every academic hoop, they stop being able to relate to anyone who didn't. They become a "creative class" that shares a specific set of values, tastes, and even a specific way of speaking.
If you live in a world where everyone has a Master's degree from a top-tier university, you start to view the rest of the country as a foreign land. This isn't just about politics. It’s about social cohesion. When the leadership of both major political parties, the heads of every major media outlet, and the CEOs of the biggest tech firms all come from the same eight schools, the "national conversation" becomes a private dialogue.
The Ivy League didn't just educate people; it sorted them. And in that sorting, it left everyone else feeling like they were "less than." That’s a recipe for populism. It’s a recipe for the exact kind of resentment that has defined American life for the last decade.
The Problem of Professionalization
The article dives deep into how we stopped valuing "character" and started valuing "competence."
In the old days—flawed as they were—there was a sense of noblesse oblige. There was an expectation that if you were at the top, you owed something back to the community. Today, the meritocrat feels they earned it all themselves. They stayed up late studying. They did the extracurriculars. They wrote the essays. Because they feel they "earned" their status, they feel they don't owe anyone a thing.
This shift has turned our institutions into machines for self-advancement.
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The Economic Wall
Let's talk about the money, because you can't ignore it. Even though these schools have massive endowments and offer "need-blind" admission, the actual student bodies are still overwhelmingly wealthy. A famous study by Raj Chetty and his team at Opportunity Insights found that at many Ivy League schools, there are more students from the top 1% of the income scale than from the bottom 60% combined.
Basically, the meritocracy became a way to launder privilege.
Instead of just inheriting a factory, you inherit the cultural and social tools needed to get into Yale. It’s the same result—concentrated power—but with a much better PR department. This is a huge part of how the Ivy League broke America The Atlantic narrative. It’s the realization that the "fair" system is actually rigged in a way that’s much harder to fight because it’s based on "talent."
The Emotional Toll on the "Winners"
Honestly, it’s not even that great for the kids who get in. You've probably seen them. They are the "excellent sheep," a term coined by William Deresiewicz. They are hyper-anxious, terrified of failure, and often lack a sense of purpose beyond the next achievement.
They are running a race with no finish line.
If your entire identity is built on being at the top of a hierarchy, you can never stop. You can never take a risk. You can never do something "useless" like study poetry for the sake of poetry. Everything becomes a credential.
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What Do We Actually Do About This?
So, if the system is broken, how do we fix it? Brooks doesn't give a simple five-step plan because the problem is cultural, not just administrative. But there are real movements happening right now that look like a response to the "breaking" of America.
- Ending Legacy Admissions: This is the low-hanging fruit. Schools like Johns Hopkins and Wesleyan have already done it. It’s hard to claim you're a meritocracy while giving a massive boost to the children of donors.
- The "Test-Optional" Debate: While the SAT has its flaws, some argue that getting rid of it actually makes things worse for poor kids who don't have fancy "holistic" resumes. The debate is messy, and there's no consensus yet.
- Expanding the Elite: Instead of having eight schools that hold all the keys, we need to invest in state schools and community colleges. We need to make it so that where you go at 18 doesn't determine your entire life's trajectory.
- Decoupling Status from Degrees: This is the hardest part. As a society, we have to stop treating people without elite degrees as "backwards" or "uninformed."
The Shift in Hiring
Interestingly, some of the biggest companies in the world are starting to figure this out. Google and IBM have significantly de-emphasized the need for a four-year degree for many roles. They’ve realized that being good at school doesn't always mean you're good at the job.
This "skills-based" hiring is a direct challenge to the Ivy League's monopoly on talent. It’s a small crack in the wall, but it’s there.
Final Thoughts on the Great Sorting
The Ivy League didn't set out to "break" America. Most of the people involved thought they were doing the right thing. They thought they were building a fairer, smarter country. But they ignored the human element. They ignored the fact that when you create a winner-take-all system based on academic pedigree, you inevitably create a class of "losers" who are going to be rightfully angry.
We are living in the fallout of that experiment.
The Atlantic's critique remains essential because it forces us to ask: what is the purpose of an education? Is it to sort us into ranks? Or is it to help us become better citizens? Until we prioritize the latter, the divide isn't going anywhere.
Actionable Steps for Navigating the New Landscape:
- Broaden Your Hiring Search: If you’re in a position to hire, look beyond the "Target Schools." Some of the best talent is at state universities or in non-traditional paths where people have actually had to overcome real-world obstacles.
- Challenge the Pedigree Bias: Next time you see a "prestigious" degree on a resume, ask yourself if it actually correlates to the skills needed for the role, or if you're just falling for a brand name.
- Support Local Institutions: Focus your attention and donations on local community colleges and vocational schools. These are the institutions actually doing the work of social mobility.
- Redefine Success for Your Kids: If you're a parent, stop the "Ivy or Bust" mentality. The pressure is destroying kids' mental health and narrowing their worldview. There are hundreds of incredible schools where they can get a world-class education without the soul-crushing competition.
- Engage Outside the Bubble: If you are a product of the meritocracy, make a conscious effort to read, listen to, and spend time with people who don't share your educational background. It’s the only way to burst the "diploma bubble."
The era of the "natural aristocracy" might be coming to an end, or at least a reckoning. Understanding how we got here is the first step toward building something that actually works for everyone.