I guess all these fictional billionares that kick their children out to fight for their lives have actually a reasonable foundation in their logic. Filter the idiots that would waste the money and keep the ones that can deal with abrupt changes.
Maybe that's a solution: Force all elites to send their children to somewhere where they have to work and/or fight for a year or two, and hope this forces them to see things from the normal people's perspective.
Why just elites? There is considerable merit to the notion of a universal citizen's militia, and there is likewise evident good sense to the notion of having your militiamen well-trained. The obvious solution is to require a period of military training and service as a prerequisite to full legal adulthood/citizenship.
And I favour the Heinleinian model here, i.e. "you want to vote, you do your tour of duty first".
This would involve all would-be citizens undergoing extensive training (not just combat training, but essentially a sturdy civic curriculum that produces dilligent, skilled,
educated patriots). Following this training, a period of service that can be carried out in various ways, with some requiring shorter periods than others. For instance, active military duty for one year, or peace-time domestic militia duty for several years. (Because the latter would be much less arduous, much less risky, and also inherently
part-time).
After you've completed this, you are awarded the right to vote and to hold office.
(Elsewhere, I've talked about the merits of having immigrants meet other, far more extensive criteria before they can join the citizenry, of course. What I propose here would apply to all natural-born denizens. It would essentially turn "citizenship" into a category for which you have to
qualify. But do note that, like Heinlein, I believe everyone must be able to attain that status! Even if you're blind and born without legs... we'll find something for you to do, so you can prove your willingness and dedication. If you do that, you
deserve citizenship.)
It may be important to note that I am
not adovocating for the misguided Spartan "agoge" model, which may appear superficially similar, but which is fundamentally different in both execution and intent. The Spartan model was based on physical fitness, whereas my idea is based on civic responsibility and duty. The Spartan model was centred on actively oppressing (and killing) members of the servile helot class, and thus was designed to train oppressors. My model is aimed at creating responsible citizens who are instilled with a sense of duty to
protect their countrymen.