Americans Aren't Ashamed of Nepotism. Maybe They Should Be.

Universities for decades have offered special consideration to legacy students whose parents attended that same school. An article in The Atlantic spotlights the practice which you might not realize is uniquely American. British schools offer no such benefit to potential students based on their family, and some U.S. based schools are dropping the practice too, citing that it institutionalizes longstanding inequity and bias in the admissions process.

That's undeniably true. Yet as the article points out, the reasons why it has persisted for so long have more to do with cultural norms in America and less to do with a built in need for this legacy practice at schools. The only way to change it is for those of us who have the opportunity to change the game to do so.