I don't disagree with most of this. That's one of the things I liked about the program our firm was working with: it was heavily minority, sure, but the emphasis was on first-generation students from households of limited means. One kid we worked with had moved to Texas from Lafayette - he moved with his single mother who didn't exactly have a high-paying job. He was a "generic white dude" by appearance, but damned well was behind the 8 ball when it came to family economic stability and connections. That said...the structures and systems that worked against minorities for centuries worked against them BECAUSE they were minorities, not because they were poor. If we want to level out that playing field, we can't ignore the disproportionate impact that had on minorities.
As to the obsession with the most selective institutions, hear hear. You have heard me sing the praises of community colleges, and even our friends down the road at Texas State, which provides a great path to a degree for a lot of folks. I do think that the path to real generational success includes some post-secondary education, but I also agree that it should all come from a very strong secondary education foundation. Shit, the "dual credit" option at a lot of centex schools, where you can graduate high school and either be done with or close to an associate's degree from ACC is a brilliant thing that I wish got better play. A few years ago, I was at career day for a Pflugerville middle school that was definitely on the lower income side of things. I was sitting at a table as an attorney. Everyone else there was with a trade, or the military. Except the ACC table next to me. For the few wide-eyed kids who actually started to grasp that they too could be lawyers if they put their minds to it, they were almost all intimidated by higher education, and how to get started. I kept pointing them to the table next to me -- "talk to this man, he can tell you how easy it is to get halfway there just by going to high school. You can do it, it's all right there."
I then went home, told my wife about my day, and cried like hell.