People are absolutely obssessed with institutions, mainly via justification of their own passage through those institutions. I have seen it at every level of education where people a notch below them or more on the educational ladder are looked down upon. People holding bachelor's or master's degrees will look down upon those with only an associate's degree or a high school certification. Those with a Ph.D. will look down upon those who don't and elevate those who do. I have both seen this and experienced it.

A book that covers this is Disciplined Minds by Jeff Schmidt.