In my experience the Ivy obsession is much more of a CC thing than a widespread high school mentality. I recognize it may be different at other schools, particularly in some parts of the northeast. But here in our mid-tier suburban San Diego HS I’d say seldom more than five kids per year are heavily focused on getting into the Ivy league or Stanford or MIT. Of the 600 seniors who graduate each year most who go to college at all go to community college. A fair number go to to Cal States or mid- and lower-range UCs or OOS. The most popular dream schools are UCLA and Berkeley, not the Ivy League. Only about the top 5 or so kids apply Ivy in any given year and sometimes not even that. And every year between 1 to 3 of them will get in.
CC is a self-selected population with a much higher percentage of Ivy-obsessed kids (and Ivy obsessed parents). It doesn’t reflect the real world very well. IMO, railing against the Ivy League is trying to solve a problem that (in my neighborhood at least) doesn’t exist.