One kid getting into Princeton means another misses out.
Very little of it results in actual useful learning or eventual public benefit.
Your skills are more important than the prestige of your school.
I'd disagree slightly. All of Mark Zuckerberg's college roommates are billionaires or half-billionaires - mostly because they were his roommates. Obviously they brought their own skills to the table but there existed other people in the world at that time with those skills too. These specific people got to be in the rocket ship when it was on the ground, because they were at Harvard. Otherwise, they'd (probably) only have very successful careers, instead of their current wealth and status.
I think having a "prestige" school on your resume opens some doors far more easily.
I personally don't think it's worth encouraging people to try to be billionaires. If you do, most of them will end up highly disappointed. It's more worthwhile to encourage people to be the best they can be, the majority of which will fall vastly short of a billion dollars. That's okay.
I don't think society cares who fills the position but said individuals care.
> A noisy but pointless rearrangement of positions on the socio-economic ladder.
Not pointless to the people on that ladder.