Hard Questions About "B" School

In watching the CNBC documentary on Harvard Business School recently- now somewhat dated since it was first aired in the Fall of 2008- just as the current economic crisis entered its "terminal" phase; I wondered:

1. Is an MBA necessary?

2. Is a Harvard MBA that much better than one from a university less celebrated in popular culture?

3. What do you make of the fact that Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Michael Dell and many other very successful business people did not go to any business school?

Yet I also wondered what has happened to all of the graduates of Harvard "B" school? Have all of them gone on to fame & glory? Does a Harvard MBA guarantee success? No, of course not. So what are the statistics? How many of those who matriculate at Harvard Business school, or any accredited business institute of higher learning for that matter- go on to distinguish themselves in business or in life? How many go on to disgrace themselves?

Aside from Jeff Skilling, that is...Despite all of the knowledge you gain from 2 years at Harvard "B" school (wisdom only comes with real world experience), could it be that one is ultimately handicapped by hubris? By the very sense of self-satisfaction- indeed the arrogance that one feels simply because you made it through the vaunted MBA program at Harvard? Conferring as it does an elite status upon its graduates?

You are now a "master of the universe"; or soon will be. An interesting comparison to Harvard "B" school is West Point- easily the most elite of all US military academies. So how many Robert E. Lees and Douglass MacArthurs did West Point actually mint? How many went on to fame and glory and conspicuous accomplishment? And how many went onto utter obscurity, or worse- ignominy?

Have there been U.S. military heroes, covered in glory from real world sacrifice- who would never have made it through the program at West Point?