Interesting, in my experience, I've witnessed the opposite of what you've said. Most of my friends at private schools seem to be happier and tend to be more successful than those at mid tier state universities.
By that logic, we should look not criticize what others are doing, even if it is unethical or dangerous. Oh, that man is using a knife to kill himself? Well it's his tool after all...
The same thing can be said about industry. All you hear about are the people who work at successful startups and top tech firms. You don't hear about the ones working at low paying fortune 500 companies as developers or IT.