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Comment by rayiner | Hacker News Reader

> First of all, I don't know what "blue blood WASP culture" is. Explain that please.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestants

See also: https://www.hbo.com/the-gilded-age. These are the folks who founded Harvard, Yale, etc., and created the ethos of higher education that remains nearly universal in America today.

> Second, there's nothing wrong with expecting students to participate in extra-curricular activities like music and art as a basis for admission. MIT is still going to evaluate those things.

It’s pointless and classist.

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It's a complex issue. On one hand, what differentiates universities from trade schools is teaching students how to learn/do their own research vs. acquire specific skills/knowledge: demonstrating some kind of self-motivated achievement aside from strict academic requirements helps universities select students who are receptive to this. On the other hand, yes, it selects for more well-off students who have the free time, inclination, and means to pursue their interests.

Harvard was founded in 1636 and Yale was founded in 1701, over 150 years before the gilded age. And why is the blood of WASPs blue?

He's talking about white aristocrats, so called blue-blood because they were fair enough to see their veins, according to legend.

Sorry, to clarify for people who haven’t watched the show. The show is about a Gilded Age new money family in New York City trying to break into the social scene composed of affluent families who traced their ancestry in America back to the 1600s. It’s these sorts of families (who were “old money” back in the Gilded Age) who were intimately involved with the inception of Harvard and Yale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elihu_Yale

So basically this is just a completely fictional account for entertainment with maybe some historical context thrown in for dramatic flavor? What is one supposed to take away from that?

The WASP elite are a completely historical group of people deeply involved with our Ivy League universities. The show is just a pop culture illustration of the point. (Though maybe not as popular as I thought.)

having a sun tan, was associated with field laborers, so rich people of the time did every thing they could to retain the whitest of skin to demonstrate their richness. When you have very pale skin the veins are more easily seen which carry un-oxygenated blood back to the heart, giving a blueish hue.

Of course, now the term blue blood, just means wealth that has established generational history.

Check out this song by Henry VIII

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastime_with_Good_Company

More seriously, it’s fairly well acknowledged that most of the ivies started as seminaries or were modelled after english places of HL.

https://www.britainexpress.com/cities/oxford/stuart.htm

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