This seems like an incredibly narrow-minded and misinformed article. While it's great that Caltech doesn't bend on its academic standards, it assumes that simple academic meritocracy on paper is all that is important to build a 'good' school. I go to MIT (where we have over 30 varsity NCAA teams, many of which are very successful), and the jocks have just as much academic merit to be here as the nerds who tool away in their dorm room. Same with the blacks, hispanics, legacies, minority x, minority y, etc etc. Not only that, MIT does an incredible job of putting together well-rounded people, and not at the expense of their intellectual capability. I have a friend who is high up in the undergraduate admissions committee and personality and fit are just as important as their academic merit. This means I don't go to the stereotyped MIT with a bunch of nerds who only study all day. Instead, I go to school with a diverse blend of incredible people who are athletes, musicians, and artists who are talented AND smart.
I guess if CalTech's mission is just to breed academic warriors that's fine, but this article's statements on MIT (I can only speak for my own school, but it probably applies to others as well) are ignorant and elitist. They seem to be pushing their own stereotype that CalTech students are simply one-dimensional people. The real world isn't a 'pure meritocracy'.
If you want more musicians and artists, then view student portfolios and listen to student demo tapes. The idea that MIT making decisions based on parental legacy (tantamount to aristocracy--extremely scary for a publicly funded school in a democracy but unfortunately the norm) is justified by the broader mix of interests, etc. is absurd on its face; just select for those interests within the admissions process itself, or, failing that, institute a random lottery that lowers the admissions threshold by some amount.
I guess if CalTech's mission is just to breed academic warriors that's fine, but this article's statements on MIT (I can only speak for my own school, but it probably applies to others as well) are ignorant and elitist. They seem to be pushing their own stereotype that CalTech students are simply one-dimensional people. The real world isn't a 'pure meritocracy'.