Elitism is the belief, or the way a place is run, that a small “best” group should have more power, money, or respect than everyone else. Schools, clubs, companies, and governments get accused of elitism when they seem to exist for that small group, and to shut other people out. It is a heavy, often critical word — the person who says it usually does not like what they see. The small group itself is the elite; elitism is the thinking or the system around them. You can talk about elitism in education, in art, in sport, in politics. It is not a compliment, and it is not a neutral school word like “high standard” — though actually, people who like high standards sometimes get called elitist whether that is fair or not.