[...] the people who make it into elite graduate
programs are that tiny minority who haven’t had the creativity and
independence beaten out of them. It doesn’t work 100%.

There was some interesting stuff written about this by Sam Bowles
and Herb Gintis, two economists, in their work on the American
educational system some years back. They pointed out that the
educational system is divided into fragments. The part that’s directed
towards working people and the general population is indeed designed
to impose obedience. But the education for elites can’t quite do that. It
has to allow creativity and independence. Otherwise they won’t be able
to do their job of making money. [...]