”… equivalent to an ‘affirmative action program’ — only this time, the targeted students are children of the already rich and powerful.”

The right solution is to fix this. A system that gives some, through history, happenstance or any other reasons to have tremendous power over others is the problem. One solution is universal basic income, universal health coverage, a cap on income and wealth, democracy in the workplace and a lottery instead of voting for political representatives.

It should be illegal to have more than, say, four times the income or wealth of anyone else in society. That would create a dynamic that will fix many, many ills.

As for education, I see a future of individual, private, individualized AI tutors for everyone. The socializing aspect of schools and universities would be replaced by other or parallel institutions. That is if we avoid nuclear holocaust, climate catastrophe or AI doom.