The practice of some colleges to grant special admissions preference to “legacy” applicants (those whose family members attended the school) is unfair and perpetuates the lack of social mobility in the U.S.
Some figures (from http://www.businessinsider.com/legacy-kids-have-an-admissions-advantage-...):
KEY: School, Legacy Acceptance %, Overall Acceptance %:
Harvard: approx. 30%, 5.8%
Princeton: approx. 33%, 8.5%
Yale: approx. 22.5%, 6.7%
The “legacy” process disadvantages students whose family members did not attend prestigious schools, rewards students not for their merit but their pedigree, and unfairly gives more opportunity to the already privileged upper classes. President Obama should make a legislative initiative to outlaw this discriminatory practice.