Today I have been channeling Joan Didion and was led to her 1961 essay in Vogue "On Self-Respect".
"Character—the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life—is the source from which self-respect springs."
Words can help to restore dignity. I suggest the parents and young adults involved start studying:
https://www.vogue.com/article/joan-didion-self-respect-essay-1961
6
Which university produces the most Fortune 500 CEOs? The great state university -- UW-Madison. We beat Harvard, Stanford, USC, Georgetown, and every other university on the "cheater" list. On, Wisconsin!
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/28/these-30-colleges-produced-the-most-current-fortune-500-ceos.html
2
I remember an editorial cartoon I saw years ago but darn if I can find it now.
Two students are standing in front of an elaborate building on what looks to be an Ivy league campus.
The black student says to the white student, "What do you mean affirmative action? I got into this school the same way you did."
And the white student responds, "Your daddy built a wing on the medical school?"
18
Some readers may wish to read "Stoner" by John Williams, born and raised in Northeast Texas, he showed an aptitude for writing and acting, and flunked out of a local junior college after his first year. After reluctantly joining the war effort, enlisting in the Army Air Corps, he managed to write a draft of his first novel while there.
Once home, he found a small publisher for the novel and enrolled at the University of Denver, where he was eventually to receive both his B.A. and M.A., and where he was to return as an instructor in 1954, without bribes or pride.
My brother Seymour, following his mandatory family tradition, attended Harvard and with an untainted college degree, joined the Marines in Parris Island for a two-year stint, before going back to college to secure a degree in the field of Egyptology.
A skilled handyman visited earlier; neither of us have been on a college campus, and he expressed admiration for our pedigree president because he knows 'what a wheel-barrow looks like and when a screw-driver is needed'.
Silence has never been more golden, and now we know that an affinity for workshop tools are far more instrumental in learning about the art of the deal, than sharpening and crafting our mental capabilities for the good of our Nation.
1
Let us collectively decide to stop being impressed with “elite” university pedigrees. Many a brethren at the bar in my law firm from the presumed creme de la creme universities cannot find their proverbial behinds with both hands. The truly smartest among us attended “no name” institutions.
8
Born on third base and think they hit triples.
8
It's simply disgusting that the "have more" want even more and by doing so harm the "have and the have nots." My old uncle was right when he told me decades ago that some rich people's greed is insatiable. I'd like to see many of the guilty do prison time and their kids go to community colleges.
6
I have wondered for a long time how Trump, who is glaringly uneducated, ever got through college. Who took his exams? Who wrote his papers?
But now it is becoming clear. Probably daddy did the most efficient thing and bought the professors. There is no way they would talk as confessing would ruin their lives.
12
Narcissistic entitled parents raising narcissistic and entitled children...
These people likely have no respect for education and are only interested in homecoming and graduation instagram shots and the class standing these overvalued degrees achieve.
Overvalued since it is likely the students of these parents are not reliably in class, pay essay services to do their work, contribute to rising rates of plagiarism, and are largely unaffected and enriched by any degree they 'attain'. This is an argument for effective career testing for any job since we can't be convinced that any degree is the result of diligent study.
3
The title to this article is absurd. If parents do not have moral values before they embark on being role models for their children, it is 1 chance in 100 that they will suddenly, with the full weight of parenting responsibility upon them, develop moral values that are worth more than a DIY Parenting For Dummies book can impart to them much less inculcate such values into their already selfish souls.
4
"The real losers in all this are the children of these wealthy parents, who learn that cheating is the way to win in life. They have been failed by their parents and lost something precious: their self-respect. Their entire life, people will wonder if what they achieve is a product of honest work and skill or another cheat — even if they end up being presidents or senior White House advisers."
These children will not be losers, figuratively or literally. They will not care one bit about how they got to where they are, nor will they care what others think of them, because they never have. Nor will this scandal hurt them in the long run. The other members of their class - the majority of whom likely received similar advantages - will welcome them into executive positions and boardrooms with open arms. These people will continue to believe that they are better and smarter than everyone else by virtue of their bank balance. The parents will have a momentary embarrassment, but ultimately will get slaps on the wrist that no one will remember in a year.
The only losers in this scenario are the poor, hardworking students who lost opportunities. But they have been losing those opportunities forever (you're naive if you think otherwise). Nothing will change for them, because those in power don't care about them and never have. That's the American way and always has been.
12
Just wondering: all these parents would did this HAD the money to get their children the tutors from an early age, send them to the best schools, give them the best SAT prep classes, the tennis and sailing lessons, etc. Most of them are probably pretty smart themselves, as they are very successful. Many of them are famous (already a leg up for their kids). So why couldn't their children compete? With these children being given the best from an early age, why were they not able to get the grades and scores they needed to get into these colleges? And if they could not do it on their own, for goodness sake, parents, why could you not just accept that and find a great school for them where they could thrive. Bad parents! And thing of the spots they took from really deserving children. Shameful!
17
James Grosser is right: the most important thing is building ipnand appropriately funding state schools.
2
Surely this isn't the first time all these professional businessmen and women have cheated ? I can't imagine they would risk their children before they risked their colleagues and clients.
3
I am outraged that only now, after decades upon decades of elitist admissions, do we have a scandal. Is it because “Hollywood” is involved?. This upstart nouveau riche tacky group of aspiring elitists?
This has been an issue for generations...legacy admissions, huge donations for buildings, bribes to all sorts of officials.,and while I am glad that there is vigorous discussion I am perplexed..why now? And the sad thing is that nothing will change. This will blow over, and the elitist bad behaviors will continue. They are just sorry that they got caught. This time.
6
Two Stanford students are leading a suit against universities involved in this vile scam alleging "Each of the universities took the students’ admission application fees while failing to take adequate steps to ensure that their admissions process was fair and free of fraud, bribery, cheating and dishonesty." (from today's Guardian.)
I cannot comment on the merits of this particular case. Many colleges and universities would never knowingly stoop to such skulduggery. I know higher education from the senior ranks of the professoriate (here, spell check corrects me to write "professor I ate." Yep, really) and I know how cynically foul university administration can be.
The students' allegation grieves me deeply, but it does not surprise me for a second.
This entitlement of wealth is pathetic, even more pathetic, when those blessed with the ability to run downhill while everyone else is running over mountains to get to the same place, are still emboldened to feel they have a right to yet another advantage. The notion of "an otherwise blameless life" begins in preschool. And that is why we are where we are today. We are in a place where those unqualified will still have unending advantage. We are in a place where those with hope and hard work are reminded to "forget it." We are in a place where many are willing to forgive unforgivable transgressions for our goals. I've read all the comments to this article and still I am un-amazed. The media renunciation of religion as key cause..what could you expect but societal decline? Fire and brimstone does not produce lasting character, empathy and understanding does. Some comments even said that journalists have to report on something and they will feed the outrage cycle, a conclusion to their comment that seemed more outraged that this story was covered at all - since it was trivial stuff. Dismissing this behavior and remanding it to the 'fake/petty news' pile does not change the desired result. The ultimate goal is to have those without advantage, just give up. Why try? The advantaged know that knowledge is power and their power may be diminished if knowledge is shared. A candle does not burn brighter if the one next to it is blown out. THE END DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS. sharon
5
Here's the well aimed satire we need in these awful times.
"Satire from The Borowitz Report"
New Yorker Magazine
"Betsy DeVos Suggests That Bribing Colleges Helps Students Learn Math."
By Andy Borowitz
"WASHINGTON —Offering an upbeat assessment of the headline-grabbing college-admissions scandal, Betsy DeVos said on Thursday that bribing colleges gave students “a really neat opportunity” to learn math.
The Secretary of Education suggested that, rather than keeping children in the dark about the bribes that enable their college acceptances, “Parents should sit around the kitchen table with their kids and work on some fun math problems together.”
“Let’s say it’ll cost Amber seventy-five thousand dollars to get into Stanford, and it’ll cost her twin brother Dylan seventy-five thousand to get into Georgetown,” she said. “How much money total will their parents have to wire?”
“Or let’s say Jenna has a 470 verbal score, but she needs a 730 to get into Yale,” DeVos said. “How much will she have to pay to get her score changed?”
DeVos said that, as regrettable as the criminal charges against the parents in the bribery scandal were, the arrests themselves provided a teachable moment. “Lori Loughlin posted a million dollars in bail, and Felicity Huffman posted two hundred fifty thousand,” she said. “How much bail did Lori and Felicity post?”
5
It's been more than ten years since Paige Laurie's Walton fortune paid for naming rights to a basketball arena. The outcry led to the discovery that her college roomate had done her school work for her, and her *USC* degree was returned. The Walton family has always believed in trickle down, and the current scandal is just a cultural variant. We are all being dumbed down because too many people with money can't compete any other way. No wonder Trump got elected.
8
Look at who's caught up in this: shallow actresses; hedge fund managers, and other assorted financial bottom feeders. These people are totally incapable of instilling any "values" other than self aggrandizement and greed.
11
R.R.I. from Ocean Beach was disgusted by the fact that little has been said about students' wanting to learn which, of course, is what college is supposed to be all about. He's right.
I was researching a book about college and asked a co-ed what she thought of her experience.
"College is a four-year party, paid for by your parents!" she gleefully told me.
Lori Loughlin's daughter, Jade, basically said the same thing. Perhaps the greatest scandal in this very scandalous affair is that so many other students share this view.
Education begins at home. Obviously, there are millions of parents who are not setting the right tone. And not-at-all helpful, is a president who, instead of setting a high moral standard for the nation, has repeatedly demonstrated that dishonesty doesn't really matter in getting ahead in America. How horrible for our country if millions of parents and kids are now following his example!
6
This is an example of snowplow parents with money. Well beyond hovering helicopter parenting, these snowplow parents plow the way for their tender offspring to "succeed" in the survival of fittest(?) world.
6
So I have 2 daughters who attend a Big 10 school that is quite popular with "coasties", affluent kids from the east and west coast and from what I hear from my daughters is that besides the winter weather the biggest complaint these kids have about this campus are the hick in state kids... are these kids seriously taught that they are better than basically everyone?
6
Why blame crime at our borders? The real crime is the lack of integrity and honesty that is passed down from elitist parents and spread into generations of spoiled entitled children. How does that make for a great nation.
4
One thing I’m certain about is that the schools cannot expel these students for the illegal actions of their parents. Right, dreamers?
4
"The real losers in all this are the children...even if they end up being presidents or senior White House advisers."
I don't consider Donald Trump or Jared Kushner to be "losers"-- it's the American public who've been harmed the most, with a completely incompetent President and his crony staff.
7
“The time is right for violent revolution.”
- Rolling Stones
4
Can we please stop trashing the rich all the time. Just for the record the rich are people to. And what did they do that was so bad? Just like any other parents they wanted what was best for their kids so they greased the wheels a little to get them into good schools. Now I'll agree there are better ways to get your children into good schools even if their not qualified. Take Steven A. Cohen the hedge fund manager who wanted his twin daughters to get into U.S.C.'s School of Cinematic Arts by donating 5 million dollars through his foundation to U.S.C, they got in or Charle Kushner who made a 2.5 million dollar donation to Harvard to get his son Jared Kushner in. This is the legal and proper way to do it. The problem with the parents who were just arrested is not that they were rich but that they were not rich enough. So can everybody just calm down and have some pity for these poor parents who it turns out just didn't have enough money to do it the legal way.
4
As student with a learning disability, I find this scandal extremely upsetting. I have always loved school and had a joy for learning. At the same time I have always had poor reading and math skills, but yet I was able to get A’s and B’s in school. Standardized test have always been difficult me for as the time constraints and the wording of these exams are not conducive in the test the abilities of someone who has a learning disabilities. Therefore I have had someone to read the test to me and extend time, I have had people to question these accommodations as a form of cheating. No they are not cheating, as they are equalizing the playing field for students with learning disabilities. But now, we are learned that wealthy parents are buying these accommodations for their children. I wonder if these parents realize the harm they have caused to students who real learning disabilities that relay on these accommodations just make through school. Not only have created a situation where now some people will question the need to accommodations, but also of anyone with diagnosis of learning disability.
Shame on these people!
6
"Private institutions like Stanford have the right to shape their student bodies based on their own values. No one has a right to a Stanford education."
Point taken.
Counter point- Remove US government money from them. Why should I support their "values"?
12
Another perspective on the SAT/ACT and test prep
1. I see grade inflation all the time, so standardized tests can help determine what skills are actually there (Reading Comprehension) and what knowledge (Math) has been retained.
2. I would agree that there is an unhealthy and unnecessary emphasis on differences in good test scores (an SAT score of 1250 versus 1350 for example), but what about the student scoring below 1000? That usually indicates weak underlying skills despite what the GPA says.
2. Schools in my area don't teach grammar. The SAT and ACT require a demonstrated skill of editing written passages for correct grammar and punctuation.
3. There are current experiments underway in how math is being taught, and some of those experiments are failing miserably. I see students all the time who have a B in math and cannot solve a simple problem like 8% of the population of California is 3.16M people--what is the population of California?
4. Students' lives that I see are so over scheduled that when they finally have a moment to themselves, they don't find reading for pleasure a pleasure! So, I have seen a marked decline in reading comprehension skills over the last decade, which are tested.
5. Colleges and Universities should demand changes to these tests that relax the time constraints. Should we really care that a student can answer a question in 45 seconds instead of 30 seconds unless the student plans to be an Air-Traffic Controller or ER Physician?
3
The guilty parties should have to fund scholarships to help financially disadvantaged kids at the universities involved. The scholarships should be anonymous, so as not to give these people another ounce of publicity. They should fund UNCF.
There are kids who worked hard and deserve admittance at these universities and their spots went instead to these undeserving kids.
4
Meritocracy is a myth it seems many Americans have bought into. Unfortunately, at this time, Democracy is in the same boat in this country: something we pretend exists here but in reality we have not lived it for many years.
9
A few of the comments here go far enough to touch the fundamental problem. A school is a place to learn. If the school and the students don't have that as their most fundamental purpose and don't value learning for itself then they are managing and populating an obedience school and will be judged on their ability to teach and understand commands to sit and to lie down.
A love of learning is the saving grace of humanity; we are easily outrun by wolves and cheetahs and chimpanzees are far stronger than we are. Well was the Belushi comedy called Animal House. Our species name is Homo Sapiens. We must remember that.
1
I acknowledge that a student whose parents can afford the services of a private college advisor is privileged, but when public school guidance counselors are responsible for over 400 students, a private market will develop to fill the void of personalized attention. I am very familiar with many people who provide this service in my county of San Diego because I refer families to them, and I've only seen highly professional and ethical people who are providing guidance to students at a price far less than the price of tens of thousands of dollars or more described this week in stories related to the scandal. Many of these professionals are members of NACAC, a respected professional organization with membership standards. Mr. Singer was not a member! If I had heard of a local college advisor asking for a fee of tens of thousands of dollars, my suspicions would be immediately raised, and I would start asking questions. There were a few parents arrested in San Diego, but I can tell you that any rumors about Mr. Singer who was just north of us in Orange County were not widespread.
3
The Hallmark Channel has dropped Lori Loughlin, announcing "we are no longer working with her."
Sephora has dropped Loughlin's daughter, social media influencer Olivia Jade Giannulli, stating "after careful review of recent developments, we have made the decision to end the Sephora Collection partnership with Olivia Jade, effective immediately."
If Ms. Giannulli is expelled from USC, we may not hear a public disclosure of such action due to FERPA, which protects educational and student information.
6
Two very close kids, 1500 SAT who is first generation college and a 1480 legacy whose family has been regular alumni donors for decades. Legacy’s family has consistently supported a variety of school needs. It’s tough for 1st gen but I don’t have a big issue with that legacy being chosen. It’s 1020 legacy who infuriates me. He either isn’t smart enough or doesn’t have the work ethic for an elite education. 1500 kid could have made a real contribution to society by having contact with the finest minds and greatest resources. 1020 got the space and will be passed along from frat party to internship to boardroom. The first scandal is that would have happened for 1020 even if he went to a less prestigious school; he already has the connections, the wardrobe and the manners. 1500 might do well in life but will be cheated out of the top school’s finer intellectual opportunities, research funding and social connections. It is a school, after all.
The other scandal is that the diligent students who did get in on their own merit just saw the value of their expensive and hard earned degree plummet. What’s an Ivy League diploma worth if it’s perceived as just another thing rich parents buy for their kids?
6
I would be forever ashamed in front of my children if I had done what those people did to get them in college. But some people have no shame to start with.
The system that permits the legacies, the donations, and all the tricks to get under qualified people in colleges is what is wrong. Access to education according to merits should be a right and not a privilege.
2
What better way to tell your child that you not only don't trust them to 'succeed' on their own but that their 'success' in life will be very narrowly defined and is what your love and acceptance is clearly contingent upon. How could your child ever believe they could make a mistake in life and still be loved and appreciated by you if you cannot even let them suffer a 'failure' as small as rejection from an Ivy?
7
The difference is this 'scandal' they got caught with people who wore wires, and it's hard to spin that. We live in a time where basic values of right and wrong don't exist. And parents perpetuate it, or make excuses for their kids bad behavior. Shame on all for allowing more greed, and it confirms yet again that we have two very different systems for Americans. And, there is no way to spin that.
8
According to the text, some of the would be students caught up in this mess were not aware that the parents were busily putting the fix in! I doubt that's true, cynic that I've become, but to the extent it is and the students were unaware, the atmosphere at home would be likely to become poisonous. There are other ramifications too disturbing to contemplate, not least being zero security. Odd that ,with all the guidance department navel gazing 'revolving around admissions, there doesn't seem to have been much discussion with the targetted "students" to size up the admissions claims made in their behalf.
4
My daughter was on the crew team in high school, she did not crew in college because the school she wanted to attend did not offer the sport. My thoughts are of the two true crew athletes that were denied the opportunity to be on the USC crew team.
11
The fact that the extremely wealthy pay to get their children into school doesn't surprise me. I do find it extremely sad and infuriating, when so many people work their tails off to get ahead only to have some entitled child with zero work ethic or interest in obtaining any knowledge to be admitted ahead of them. This speaks to the larger problem of helicopter parenting that I see so frequently among my peers - parents writing cover letters for their children, attending job fairs with them, etc. I feel extremely fortunate that my parents let me try and fail, and get admitted to undergrad and graduate school on my own merit. I actually got rejected from my dream school, and then worked hard to change the minds of the admissions department for the program I was interested in. That experience has led to an emerging career where I maintain the personal fortitude to stand on my own two feet, expressing my opinions and earning respect and status for working hard. Of course I lead a life of privilege as a white, upper middle class woman. However, my family didn't buy my way into anything and my accomplishments are truly my own. That's something I'm extremely proud of, and I feel so sad for the children of these parents who are perhaps just now realizing that none of their accomplishments were truly earned - they were bought.
6
I think there is too much trashing of college admissions system. Admittedly it can be “gamed” as can all human institutions. I taught high school English and worked for several years in college counseling and came across one egregious case of cheating which did not get the applicant into her favored college; the college was notified. What I find disappointing in the postings here are all the fingers pointing elsewhere than what the article asks for—Develop some values—presumably at home within the family. In our new tribal culture, we like to blame some other tribe for the problem. The education system will work pretty well if every family within itself inculcates values. It’s not tribes (Trumpian crookson one side, Rich progessive hypocrites on the other: it’s individuals and families. If parents diplomatically ask their children if they have done their homework or ask about interesting books they are reading or advise that they limit their extra curricular media time, then parents are helping to develop responsible work habits. Seriously “speaking the truth” at all times rather than coyly bending it for convenience is another de-emphasized value these days. Despite the facts of behavior, we are urged to teach that children are “special,” “to be esteemed,” to deserve the eternally elusive “empathy.” When that gets clouded and scammed a good school enters troubled waters but I feel much of our educational system steers a better course.
1
This just in- The children of the super-rich are trophies and they are very happy to be. They have also lost nothing by participating in this game, and in fact, will happily reap the benefits for the rest of their lives. And to make it even more galling, they will pass their ways and means onto their children.
5
As a school psychologist in California public schools I can attest to wealthy parents suddenly requesting their high school sophomore or junior be tested for a disability to ensure advantages on SAT testing and college applications. These requests are made by wealthy parents who are paying $20K+ per year for an elite high school. They come to the public schools, for the free assessment, because only school districts can specify if a student has a disability and requires an IEP or a Section 504 plan. When these requests come in, it takes staff away from the true work of testing students who genuinely might have a disability. Also, if the public schools try to deny the parents' request to test they threaten a lawsuit because again, they have wealth and means. All of these headlines are not news to school psychologists, sadly.
13
Middle-class parents are also gaming the system and creating a false meritocracy.
Tests for admission to schools and programs were designed to ascertain the ability of children based on a common background. When children receive extensive tutoring and test preparation, their scores are not indicative of their true potential and they are thus less able to succeed in competitive programs without continued support.
A near-perfect SAT score from a student who has spent years in test-prep classes does not indicate a superior student but he may deprive a truly superior student of his deserved seat.
'Grinds' have come to dominate in fields such as medicine, research and computer science where creativity and intuition are necessary to achieve the best results. Due to this, we may fall behind those countries who put a greater emphasis on creativity and intuition in their admissions process.
6
@Allen This is only true if you believe that everyone can get a perfect/very high score on the SAT(1500+)/ACT(32+) given unlimited test prep time. I have not seen a proof of this.
1
@DL: Take a look at the student populations at NYC's specialized public high schools and your own colleges and see if you can come up with another explanation.
The schools involved cannot defend the integrity of their admissions process with the fraudulent students still in attendance. The schools should not reward these students for the illegal and immoral acts of their parents. On a separate note, I'm not convinced that the children were aloof to this conspiracy.
7
As a retired school teacher, I couldn’t agree more with the title of the article. Values, integrity, and character is what it boils down to...
Those attributes would have such a difference in time and quality devoted to instruction....
The reality is that many of these kids will be trust fund kids if they are not already so. I don't think Bill Macy's kids will starve if no one hires them. There will always be a yacht for them to party on. I do feel bad for the kids who thought they earned their way. Soon as employers google the kid's name and all these headlines with their parents arrest comes up is going to be a sobering experience.
5
These featured comments don't reflect my outrage at the professionals willing to cheat for $. The test administrators, proctors, coaches. Oh, and how about the MD(s?) who reportedly wrote letters documenting disabilities for test-takes that didn't really exist. I don't believe I saw a psychiatrist in the list of people indicted.
69
@Melly
Do you have an animus against physicians?
To be fair, perhaps there are no psychiatrists on the take in this scandal. Have you considered that?
You don't need a psychiatrist to document a "disability" real or otherwise. There is an entire industry devoted to this construct.....educational consultants, private school educators, social workers who are now therapists, etc
The fascinating piece to this is the wholesale lack of integrity with which these parents functioned and the values they have apparently passed on to their children.....a partner in a law firm (aren't lawyers expected to uphold the law?). The "fashion designer" (read here "businessman" and his wife, an "actress").....whose daughter is busy reconstructing her social life and purchases on Instagram.....do these offspring merit an "elite" education?
Do they actually aspire to be well educated or is this additional social branding to sustain their future income?
Their efforts were focused on ensuring their children's financial future not on helping their children develop a vocation or life in which they can contribute to improve the world.
Do you have any outrage about this? What good are these individuals and their offspring bringing to society?
They are spending and consuming and engaging in social media.....I don't think they have any intention of educating, discovering, writing, working. They have no experience outside their vacuous bubbles and therein lies the tragedy.
7
Perhaps the US should require mandatory public service for a year after high school either via the military or a Peace Corps-like organization with a domestic focus. No opting out by rich kids.
11
@Carolina--what about opting out for bone spurs?
4
It's hard to believe money stops corrupting when students are admitted to their university of choice. There is every reason to assume the path of wealthy students continues to be greased for the entire time they are in school.
Maybe, to facilitate later hiring clarity, elite degrees should come in two colors - one for merited, and one for purchased.
5
1. It’s time to address inequality. It wouldn’t be worth the hassles to cheat if the vast majority of Americans had great lives.
2. It’s time to address the mission of all non-profits, charities, religious organizations, ect. Allowing payment for acceptance, including upfront large donations makes an institution a private club. No club deserves tax free treatment.
3. Current technology can easily blind selection committees to all but proper academic achievement.
4. We can also eliminate early acceptance. If a student gets into a school truly based on their work, they would surely prefer to show a few other acceptance letters. A strong student that works hard to get into an elite school would want proof that they earned acceptance b
5. Private schools perpetuate this unequal treatment regarding college admission. Small classes, individual catch up help when absent, grade inflation, and accepting average students from this elite grouping are a few examples.
6. We have to decide if we want a real meritocracy.
2
The institutions that have a separate admissions committee that is run through athletics are asking for a scandal like this to happen. All it takes is a lot of money and the right connections and voila, you have someone like Senior Associate AD Donna Heinel (the Senior Women's Administrator at University of Southern California who is named in the indictment) pushing for students who she knows are not athletes to get special preferences for admission. Of course she was $1.3 million paid to do this.
I hope that the NCAA imposes harsh penalties on USC and the other institutions caught up in this scandal. This is the kind of thing that Boards of Trustees ought to ask their AD and President - how did you NOT know this was going on? What did you know and when did you learn it?
5
Parents who are confident in themselves are confident in their kids.
2
We... sorry, you... need to rethink the consumerism that drives America. And the deification of money. And the rot of entertainment by money. Even PBS and Lincoln Center are beholden to the Koch Bros, and the NCAA made a billion dollars last year--and then you splutter on about education? This is clear to many Americans--but not to enough to pull the country back from the abyss.
6
This scandal could have a great upside if it knocks these "elite" schools off the pedestal they have often undeservedly been placed on.
3
If you went to an elite school on your own merits (like I did), contact them and express your disappointment. We have power, because they are constantly hounding us for donations. I personally refuse to give, because they have billions in their endowment, and other places deserve my donations much more. But they don't know that I'll never give, so I plan to ask them what they are doing to prevent this. Are they de-emphasizing test scores? Are they actually interviewing students to make sure they are who they claim to be. The college I went to does interview all students. Which isn't to say that interviews can't be gamed or even faked (does the interviewer ask for a government ID?)
But as graduates with some power to wield, we can help make the institutions strengthen their safeguards against abetting this type of fraud.
1
Donations to institutions for any reason other that tuition support should not be deductible. You want to buy your kid's seat or have a building named for you? Fine - do it on your dime - but the "people" shouldn't subsidize your ego activities.
7
This is not just a function of wealthy parents who game the system. The system was created by The College Board and Pearson who dominate every corner of education in American and, in the case of Pearson, is a British held company. Pearson administers the SAT test which is owned by The College Board.
The College Board is a "non-profit" company (read: monopoly) that rolls in over $200,000,000 per year (2014 stats) - from the ownership of the SAT to required Springboard curriculum used throughout the country and to AP courses - the latter of which, through enrollment of students in AP high school courses, determines the "best" high schools in the country. Additionally, Pearson administers all testing to nationally certified teachers. American education is virtually run by these two companies.
This isn't about 50 parents, educators and coaches snared in the net of a sting; this is about every family wanting a higher education for their sons and daughters, the monopoly that drives education in America, and the universities that play the game. If we believe for even a moment that only the wealthy can game this system, that trust is misguided.
8
@Stu
Great, great comment! It is a racket!
This is timely for my twin daughters, both high school seniors, waiting now for their college acceptances, or rejections. Despite my best efforts, they are far too invested in the 'popularity contest' aspect of elite college acceptance. They will likely not get into their 'dream' schools, and it's horrible that the 'dream school' concept is even a thing. It's important they learn now how this game is really played. The only difference between a million dollar donation and a million dollar bribe is who you write the check to. It's time for a massive congressional investigation of college admissions. These schools will do everything in their power to limit and shut down these investigations. It's time to 'pierce the veil of secrecy' of college/university admissions once and for all.
10
This sleazy mess should provide an opportunity to colleges and universities to get serious about defining what they exist for.
Are they just trade schools? Networking opportunities for rich kids and a few lucky peons? Training grounds for scientists and intellectuals?
And more transparency in admissions would help to dispel a lot of suspicion.
No sympathy from me for these wealthy parents who are already providing advantages to their kids by being rich and connected. This sort of "affirmative action" for rich kids offends me a great deal more than the affirmative action where disadvantaged kids get a chance at success.
7
My kids will be the fourth generation applying to a particular Ivy League school. We have over the years donated classrooms, sponsored professors, etc, mainly to keep the relationship so that each successive generation can attend and continue the tradition. If the next were to be rejected, the school would sever that relationship, and therefore wouldn’t receive any further generosity from our family, generosity, which, by the way, has helped fund scholarships for the underprivileged. Why would the school want to shoot itself in the foot like that repeatedly for each family in our position?
2
Maybe to maintain its academic integrity and the quality of their graduates? Did it ever occur to your family to have each of those generations get accepted because they met the qualifications of incoming students? Your family members already have an advantage in being able to afford attending such an institution w/o incurring crippling debt. Isn't that enough?
22
@DRS
Because soon, they might be forced to, by law. Public funds, and tax deductions, should not go to institutions rigging the game.
9
What hasn't been mentioned (though was alluded to in one writer's concern about being operated on etc. by a wave-through) but is of great concern is our veneration of the wealthy, and the gloss of meritocracy given by their purchase of 'better' degrees. That gloss of meritocracy masks the fact that we have as much of a class problem as our friends in England, or even more, since only Italy has less economic mobility than do we, within the first world. I say 'better' because you have to be Dick Cheney to flunk out of an Ivy, so who knows what quality of person washes through those genteel corridors? We do know that buying that Ivy degree guarantees one a spot at the top, forever, no matter one's or one's competitors' accomplishments. Jerry S accidentally summed it up: the upper class protect their own by hiring degrees that ratify their own specialness, not by hiring people who fit the role.
6
The real tragedy here is that these parents think they’re helping their children. When in fact they are denying them two important life lessons. The first being the sense of accomplishment and pride that come with being rewarded for their hard work and efforts. One always appreciates things we work for more than what is handed us. The second is the lesson of perseverance and disappointment. Life is full of disappointment and had these kids not been accepted they would have learned to put this disappointment behind them and try again.
9
Over the past few days, I've heard a million different opinions from voices all over the world. I just want to quote a few lines from the article that I just couldn't stop thinking about. "The real losers in all of this are the children of these wealthy parents, who learn that cheating is the way to win in life. They have been failed by their parents and lost something precious: their self-respect," written by Jim Brokaw. The whole world is outraged but these kids are outraged and humiliated. They're slowly beginning to panic and wonder if any of their accomplishments had been real. If their parents would bend the rules for this, who knows what else they would bend them for? They're going to be in mental torment over this for a long and undetermined amount of time, and if anything, I just hope to shed light on that. We can still be angry at the parents while sympathizing for the kids as well.
46
@Serena Saxton
You and Jim are projecting your own sense of honor and dignity onto these people. It is possible you simply haven't been much exposed to them. Be very careful about assuming that at their core, these folks share your values. Many of them are very good at faking it as they know it is a) good for them personally to be seen as sharing common virtues and b) it is essential for the class as a whole to signal those virtues.
Here's a hint: If they can win and dominate, they will. If they have some pangs of guilt, they will pay people to make them feel better about it - set up a "foundation", for example.
56
@Serena Saxton Some may feel mental torment, but I fear that most will not. They are the children of the type of people that would go this route, and thus have been inculcated by their parents. Look at the current occupant of the White House for an example writ large. Affluenza has shielded them against the notion they aren't actually qualified, and when they become parents they will continue to game the system for their kids.
60
@Serena Saxton I've seen some of them; I don't think they'll lose much sleep.
44
Years ago, my (legacy) daughter was rejected from Yale, and I wrote the following to the college president:
“Needless to say, we are all following the ongoing discussion and debate about whether legacy connections should help in the college admissions process. I think deep down, we all know they shouldn’t, and we exercise a kind of willful blindness about the inherent unfairness of granting admission to kids on the basis of parental net worth and/or affiliation with the school. People like me with children who are very strong candidates rationalize that legacy status and donor status should help in a tie-breaker situation between two extraordinarily qualified candidates, but even then it may be unfair. Even if that that point remains open for debate, however, one would think that Yale could and should avoid admitting candidates who are simply less qualified, regardless of their parents’ donor status. Yet Yale’s priorities seem to be askew, and these candidates are repeatedly admitted.”
In response, both Yale's president and the Dean of Admission , to whom he forwarded my email, wrote that they were "sorry that I had found the admissions process so stressful," which I had not.
Truly, the time for Yale and its peer institutions to abolish legacy and donor preference is long past. Let's hope recent news and scrutiny causes them to do the right thing.
6
End all direct and indirect federal subsidies for universities that do not have a transparent, 100% merit based admission system.
If you want your university to cater to the children of donors and legacies, then exist on their money alone.
If you want your university to serve as a farm team for the NFL and NBA, then do it with your own ticket and merchandise revenue.
Taxpayers should fund nothing, whether through a state school or government back loans, grants, subsidies, and tax exemptions to a private university, that serves ANY OTHER PURPOSE than the academic education of qualified students.
(Yep, it would mean the end of college football and basketball as we know it. Oh well. Would it really be a bad thing if fewer young men destroyed their bodies for our entertainment without compensation? Would it be so terrible if student athletes were actually... students? If the level of play in college sports were amateur and imperfect and low stakes rather than a multimillion dollar stage for superstars?)
10
College football and basketball make plenty on their own. You can tell this by looking at the top university salaries: 90% are for athletic coaches.
However I agree that schools with vast resources (endowments, sports franchises etc) do not need to peel away from an already pool of funds that should
Go towards reducing discrepancies, not supporting them
2
So "real values" are supposed to be rewarded in a process designed to select some kids for higher education and an elite pathway to prosperity, at the expense of other kids [and at the financial expense (of real value) to those kids' taxpaying parents]? No, what gets rewarded is the ability to craft something that has the appearance of a "real value".
1
Could it be that we need to rethink the 'meritocracy'? Meritocracy and the egalitarian ideal embraced by the left are not really compatible. Meritocracy, as practiced in the context of a capitalistic free-enterprise system, means that many will enter, few will win.
There was something to be said, at least in principle, for the class system of old Europe. Kings need carpenters, and carpenters need kings. A worthy peasant could rise and even receive a title. The Great Chain of Being had a niche for each and all. The poor cherished the vision of heaven, where Lazarus could lord it over degraded Dives. (Nothing is so golden as schadenfreude.) An aristo fallen on hard times still had the title: 'Yet I am Duchess of Malfi still,' proclaims the humiliated heroine of Webster's tragedy, infuriating the brothers who have abused her every other way but can't stop her being their father's daughter.
America has a class system - I suspect any gathering of three or more humans will always wind up stratifying into some class system. But unlike old Europe, our class system has no stability. You're either moving up or down, never staying put, never getting to rest. The ice of status is always shifting under your feet. There's always someone on the lower rung down, nipping at your heels.
2
Even in meritocracies there is room for access at multiple levels. What we are talking about here is illegal greed and gaming of a system by those who have the power to do so.
And, in regards to your comment about feudal society, you can see what Europe thinks about it by counting the number of still existing feudal systems. (0). And I would not be sure that you would state your support if this if you were assigned the role of peasant.
2
I have heard comments on the radio and news that getting into these first tier schools is not worth the money; that you can get a perfectly good education from other universities. So why spend so much?
Perhaps because if you do, you can be a drunken jock who commits sexual assault and be made a Supreme Court Justice. Or have a lack luster background that dodged Viet Nam service through the National Guard and become President. It is not just the education, but the old boy network.
16
The perception that the college admission system advantages “rich white kids” is used to justify race-based affirmative action, but the system disadvantages far more poor white kids than poor black kids or poor Asian kids. The U.S. Census Bureau 2017 Poverty Report (Table 3: People in Poverty by Selected Characteristics) shows that 26.4 million white Americans, 8.99 million black Americans and 1.95 million Asian Americans live below poverty level. Whites make up 70.72 percent of Americans below poverty level.
Among Americans under 18-years-of-age, 8,041,000 whites, 3,184,000 blacks and 537,000 Asians live below poverty level.
7
Yes. So additional support should be based on economic class, not cultural.
5
@William Case: [ Whites make up 70.72 percent of Americans below poverty level. ]
Considering that whites make up 72% of the U.S. population, what is your point?
If Trump is so bad, why is he the only president to proceed with transparency in college admissions i.e. the Harvard discrimination against Asians trial...there is something I am missing. I don't buy it that he wants to destroy affirmative action. Why would every previous president block the case from proceeding...block discussion about the possibility of discrimination against Asians, when it is so flagrant. And
And Mayor Diblasio wants to get rid of objective testing for the NYC standardized schools e.g. Stuyvesant and Bronx Science just because most of the accepted students with highest scores happen to be 1st generation hard working poor Chinese and Indian children living in Flushing Queens?
I am sorry many NYT readers don't want to read this but thank you Donald Trump for allowing the case against Harvard for their discrimination against Asians go to trial ...there needs to be more than lip service against discrimination, not only when it meets political needs.
2
But on the other hand, his Secretary of Education is doing everything she can to move funds to for profit private colleges, a Business that her family has significant connections to.
I think that Trump allowing this to move forward is more because he sees this as a way of sticking to the “Liberal Elite”, which is red blood for the base.
5
@hindudr Trump, or any other president, has absolutely nothing to do with Harvard trial. Have you heard of separation of powers?
@Alex, I meant justice dept during trump's tenure
Education was once thought of as way to understand how the world works, what mankind’s place in the world is, and what is in the best interests of society. That usually included some selflessness on the part of everyone, and some recognition of obligations of the individual to the society.
The kind of education being sought by the parents in this scandal is a meaningless credential. This story is just another symptom of the pervasive corruption of the US leadership class. Which of our institutions has not been affected by corruption? We see it in large parts of our government, our churches, our educational institutions, and in the media.
Consider
1. The White House.
2. Money as free speech
3. “journalists” whose talents are spin, misinformation and propaganda for right or left wing causes
4. CEOs who expect 1,000s of times what the rank and file are paid, and who have used the Trump tax cut for stock buybacks that enhance their compensation.
5. The Catholic church and its cover up of decades of sexual assault by its priests
6. The Protestant churches that support Trump.
7. The predatory nature of Wall Street.
8. Educational credentials that are bought and sold.
I think this started with the Reagan revolution which normalized greed. If greed is good, a Reagan tenet, then societal greed is what we get. We have evolved into an ugly society that considers greed a virtue with a leadership class that has a predatory view of the rest of the US population.
8
On full display in this university criminal fiasco is raw unmitigated greed, vanity, ego, and classism. Much like what is on full display with Trump’s presidency and the nepotism with his daughter and son-in-law. It is a mirror reflecting back to society what we need to see and come to grips with:
- What is our society really like?
- Is it really a society based on a level playing field?
- Do people really have equal chances of getting ahead?
- Is it really a just society or is it just one BIG fat illusion?
Time to get real...
1
@Liz McDougall I share your sentiment, but where in the developed world have you seen a level playing field? And is it possible to create one without massive deformation of the social fabric? I grew up in Soviet Russia, on a very forcefully "leveled" playing field. Trust me - it was not pretty, and it ultimately led to the destruction of the state.
2
The Soviet Unions was “leveled” but it was never “level”.
I see that this story calls us back to the strivers' way of thinking, the bourgeoisie that defined America in the generation after WWII, where you worked at learning, at becoming an intact person, and rising through the workplace to a role of responsibility.
Democrats pooh-poohed this way of thinking as part of their revolt after the Vietnam era, but we have never been as good a country since.
Let's get back to the world of the bourgeoisie - the working and upper middle class. Those were real values even if all of Hollywood hates them today,
4
I won’t tell him to read his Bible, and love and serve God; if he don’t do that for his mother’s sake and teaching, he won’t for mine. Shall I go into the sort of temptations he’ll meet with? No, I can’t do that. Never do for an old fellow to go into such things with a boy. He won’t understand me. Do him more harm than good, ten to one. Shall I tell him to mind his work, and say he’s sent to school to make himself a good scholar? Well, but he isn’t sent to school for that—at any rate, not for that mainly. I don’t care a straw for Greek particles, or the digamma; no more does his mother. What is he sent to school for? Well, partly because he wanted so to go. If he’ll only turn out a brave, helpful, truth-telling Englishman, and a gentleman, and a Christian, that’s all I want.
1
Perhaps highliting institutions that have no legacy category, or pay to “play”, as young Kuschner did, would be a good counterbalance.
I think Caltech, for instance , has no legacy or donor loopholes. It does have incredibly high academic standards, and incredibly low student debt on graduating. There must be others that could get a round of applause for ethical behaviour.
5
@Brian Caltech accepts a class of 250 students which is less than the total graduating class of majority of HSs.
How can most parents today "develop some real values" when the mass media and many university professors have a disdain for the religious principles that formed our nation?
1
You know what? Let's can the religious claptrap. The biggest cheaters I worked for were constantly bragging about their roles in their church and how they were getting their kids into it too. One of my supposedly religious bosses encouraged me to lie on a government form so I could get more leave approved. Another would take 3-hour lunches so he could play basketball so he could eat more ice cream and not gain weight. We had a so-called religious friend, the child of missionaries, who lied to his wife for 3 years about an affair. When the wife found out and said she's strongly considering divorce, he started getting "revenge" against her, e.g., by telling their adult kids they wouldn't see him again unless they invited his new partner (he's still married) with him to holiday gatherings.
There are two basic issues that lead to the kind of behavior we're seeing - adults who only see their kids as extensions of themselves, and thus anything less than grabbing the gold ring makes the parent a failure, and a lack of recognition or caring that your selfish actions hurt someone else more deserving. You can spout the Golden Rule and everything else at people with these issues and it'll never mean anything. Sometimes having something big go against you, or seeing a loved one get hurt, makes you realize why what you're doing or not. Or not.
4
What? Are you talking about fairness and justice for all? Are you talking about truth? Are you talking about “love your fellow human”? These are all universal principles supported by the framers of the constitution, but transcend religion.
The principles that formed our nation were based on Enlightenment ideas of truth and rationality. Any god mentioned by the fathers was not the god of Spinoza than the old man with a beard sitting in the clouds.
1
Whose religious principles? Not mine. The kind of religious principles that devalue women? The kind of religious principles that hold persons of color as chattel to be bought, sold and abused? Those are the “religious principles “ our nation was founded on by privileged white Protestant land owners for their own benefit.
2
But the real scandal is how reliant we are on school pedigree rather than individual outcomes. We need to do a better job at measuring outcomes regardless of school. We also need better pedagogical training for professors, many of whom seem reluctant to teach, or teach well. Far too many courses are taught by adjuncts of highly variable quality. College is expensive and what happens there is not very transparent.
2
I feel the editors' choices of comments and the editorials thus far on this topic have failed us [readers and society].
Unfair advantages are wrong. Please don't take this comment as a defense of admissions advantages for those with resources.
There is a big difference between getting easier access within the rules and paying/bribing to cheat and break the rules. Our society is supposed to be structured to change unfair rules [although it fails too often]. But when rules exists they should be followed. These criminals had the advantages of wealth and stull chose to lie, cheat and engage in criminal behavior. I wish you did more to emphasize this while also encouraging a more even playing field for admissions generally.
3
@David Studying hard is unfair to those who do not study hard if they can excuse it. Life is not fair and choices matter.
What did the parents think would happen when their children cold not perform at the school? Could not pass tests, certainly could not play football? Was the paying to continue through four years? And Lori's girl seems as if she could not have graduated high-school much less attend any college - where was the interest in parenting those 18 years?
3
@MAEC
Of course, the athletic eligibility was all a sham. This student would never show up for practice even if the kid whose spot on the squad the rich kid took actually did.
These parents assumed their teens could do the work, but that is the same ignorant assumption college admissions people made when they were in the middle of affirmative action. Being a ''deserving'' student doesn't mean the kid has had the preparatory work to make it even in the introductory courses.
2
I watched a clip of Olivia Jade on Youtube and she stated that she was going to be very busy with her influencer business and traveling out of the country in her first semester of college. How does that work? I'm seriously wondering. I wonder why Olivia's parents felt the need to have their daughter go to college right away when her influencer business is booming and she has said that she doesn't care about school. To brag to their friends that they attend USC?
16
@Lori Isn't it sad that you can make a career out of being an 'influencer'? Isn't it sad that apparently millions of young people, instead of looking to great scientists and artists - the people whose achievements they will, one hopes, study and discuss at college - for role models, look to the teenage kid of a B-list actress on YouTube?
10
@ACW Very similar to being a chef. Most want to know what they need to do to get a cooking show. Actually cooking is almost ancillary.
I worked as business banker in NY for over 10 years. People with money buy their child's way into medical school, law school and Ivy League Schools this is nothing new. I have even seen people buy and engineer their child's way into big law firms and corporate positions. In one particular case a C student was hired in a coveted spot in a Top NY Law Firm. His mother was head of global real estate at a major Investment Banking Firm. He was inept. Other associates had to do their job plus his. His employment was a mixed blessing. Colleagues resented him and superiors hands were tied. Partner knew the firm couldn't lose the substantial volume of sizable real estate transactions that were guaranteed as long as he remained employed with firm.
Merit and earned qualifications are nice but are not the most important part of the equation. When you interview in this type of situation your will never win.
Unfortunately morals, character and ethics are not what Ivy League Grads and Corporate Executives are made of. How do you compete with these dishonest people when our society richly rewards them? Do articles like this simply remind us don't get caught? What are the consequences?
All is can say is thank God I don't have kids. I could list at least 100 more examples. Sad but true.
8
Just like corporations, the risk of getting caught is rolled into the cost of doing business. Most figured out they can still get ahead.
3
If these parents were willing to cheat to get their children into an elite school, you have to wonder what else they have been modeling. At the least, it could not have been honest achievement by hard work, because with all their money they still were not able to produce a child with enough self-discipline to hack it. Certainly, they failed their children long ago as models of character and integrity. I have yet to hear of a subpar student who got into an elite school and was able to achieve and become great. This includes the current POTUS. They take up space that could have gone to the more deserving, and then plague any industry they enter with further laziness and dishonesty.
5
Maybe bribing officials and getting caught was all part of their plan to give their kids an expensive education with meaningful lessons that they will be able to apply to their own adult lives.
4
In the comments, I do not see the separation between getting undue access to an institution and the actual graduation by having done the course work.
It is one thing to get in - via front, side, or back door. It is another thing to do all the actual work and graduate. Don't think there is a bribe for that.
2
@Daniel Long Doing the actual work? It is to laugh. Parents are writing their kids' application essays. (This has been going on for decades. When I was in college in the 1970s, an affluent friend of my father offered me $25 to 'help' his daughter write her essay. When I sat down with the girl, it became clear she expected me to write it, including supplying the 'meaningful life experience' that was to be the subject. I took the $25 for my time in explaining why I wouldn't do this.) Students buy ghostwritten papers off the internet. (Stephen King has admitted to having written a few himself back in his own college days, though he admits it wasn't morally acceptable, because he needed the money.) Parents are hiring ringers to take the SATs, ACTs, etc. What makes you think they will 'do the actual work'? Why would they break an established pattern that's been working well for them?
6
My wife's phrase from when she was two years old was "me do it myself." I suspect most two year olds want it that way. Too bad people forget that when they're 17, or 52.
7
I don't believe these parents thought they were doing anything wrong. If money can fix a problem then spend it. Whatever it takes and get it done. Scott Fitzgerald knew.
5
Competitive values compete with other values to make competition the only or main or highest value, and push aside noncompetitive values. Grades push aside learning; promotions and raises push aside pride in the work itself.
Celebrating competition and making it advisable or necessary to compete forms a society in certain ways, so that winners will be happy, losers frustrated, and those not interested in competition will be oddballs and out of touch with reality. The structure of society and culture thus influence what meanings of life will be chosen by members. We reward competition and winning as the meaning of life by seeing that many or most jobs worth doing in themselves do not pay very well, so that people who seek these jobs must be prepared to be losers and forced to struggle to make ends meet. People who seek to win will enjoy winning and success but may hate or despise their jobs, and use their winnings to compensate or fund a move towards a career change to something inherently more meaningful, so that real winning becomes escaping the rat race (and thereby losing) rather than being the top rat.
This shows that our existence is dialectical -- winning becomes losing and not playing the game becomes winning. Traditionally, college is where one tries to figure this out. These days, competition rules.
4
When the rich, famous, privileged, spoiled, and entitled, feel as if they can cheat the system or pay people off to get their way it disgusts me. This kind of selfishness should be punished to the fullest degree but we know they will probably get a slap on the wrist or probation. When we let these people off we are doing society and humanity one of the biggest disservices possible. Class-ism, usually in all it's whiteness, is equivalent to the "Let them eat cake" mentality of the past.
6
Recipe for “Privilege Stew”
If you’re troubled, even shocked by the recent revelations of corruption in college admissions, the recipe below goes a long way towards explaining why it’s happening. Hint: the secret’s in the sauce!
Here’s the recipe:
1. Religiously devote yourself to the notion that only the tiniest fraction of the world’s universities can truly advantage your child. This is the critical step.
2. Into your family, cultural, and societal pressure cooker, fold in gobs of elitism;
3. Bake in a status-fueled oven - make sure-that you set the expectations dial to maximum;
4. Keep a ready supply of guilt and shame sauce on hand and ladle on as necessary;
5. Copiously garnish with tutoring, internships, SAT prep, summer programs; sprinkle a potpourri of independent university counselors, and finish with polo, singing, square dance and bagpipe lessons;
6. For an excitingly zesty flavor, don’t stint on an eight figure donation to your university of choice;
7. For those sensitive types, you and your child will be glad that your healthcare plan covers yoga, counseling and prozac;
8. Finally, reserve additional funding to assure that your family recipe gets passed on to your descendants.
And there you have it - Privilege Stew! Enjoy!!!
5
@Marc Marier
("don't skimp", not "don't stint", although hopefully some of these folks do a stint in prison, and not just the sell side guys)
Also, #6 is exclusively part of the "back door" protocol. These scandal involves the "side door".
What meritocracy? That ends when one matriculates at one's level of incompetence!
2
It only requires truth. It takes brains to cheat right and if you had brains you'd know it isn't worth it. So being honest is really the smartest thing you can do...........
1
Color me a fool if you will
but didn’t we all know this
that this was the way it was and has been?
2
I have a Ph. D in psychology and throughout my career in advertising that was an advantage. People who have degrees from elite schools like to hire other people from elite schools.
Right after the scandal broke, I received an email from the President saying that they had fired their sailing coach as soon as they found out he accepted a bribe to get a phony in and that was against their core values.
Stanford brags in its TV advertising about how many championships it has won, so accepting applicants based on being a star athlete is part of their core values. Not to mention that boating is an elite sport that is not accessible to anyone but the wealthy
I'd like to hear more of a discussion of why athletics is so important in admission. Tho the answer is obvious with so much college sports on TV generating revenue, and even sneaker companies paying millions to the schools.
87
@Jerry S As usual, America has it all backwards. And if I see one more comment about how stupid and useless and English degree is, I might scream. I have a liberal arts degree and an advanced degree in...English! Guess what? I have a great job and make very good money. Oh yes, and I actually do care about the English language and grammar. This idea that STEM is the only way to go for everyone is laughable. By that same token, the so-called Ivy League is overrated. Look at who went there? Do you really think George W. Bush could have gotten into Yale on his own merits? How about Jared Kushner and Yale? And don't get me started on the Trump family...
41
@Jerry S
But the sports on TV are almost exclusively basketball or football, not sailing, lacrosse, rowing etc. Not even soccer. The sneaker company doesn't care if Susie Soccer is seen wearing their shoes, they care if the star male basketball player who is leaving his sophomore year for the NBA is.
8
@Jerry S
Indeed, you've answered your own question. The commercial enterprise that is sports is enormous. Thankfully, Americans value theater, music, dance, and much more in addition to sports. As a result, there are numerous colleges and universities in this country where athletic programs are small to nonexistent. For others, where they see the prestige, competitiveness, and commercial value in a successful athletics program, then as you say, it will be important to admission. In the end though, this is still about cheating.
8
"Lydgate" from Virginia affirmed what's been rumbling around my cranium about the ugly college admissions scam du jour. The entire admissions process is affirmative action for the rich.
That's what legacy/big donor preferences are, but we never hear "conservative" complaints to match their ceaseless whining about AA policies that help previously un- or under-served populations.
Rules are for suckers. Society's good stuff is for folks who can break them with impunity.
148
Human nature is stable overall...angling for advantage is built-in to our biology and does not exclude those already having some or even lots of advantage. Continual housekeeping is required to avoid the logical conclusion of these traits overwhelming societies.
Admire the truly admirable, reward virtue, lift up the fallen, provide for the overall's community's well-being, educate all the children, be kind, be vigilant against decay of our social contract.
Rinse and repeat.
78
College is too expensive today to be the vehicle in which you “find yourself”. If you are going to college today, you need to have a plan as to what you want to do with your life and how this degree from this institution will get you there.
We spend way too much time on the campaign to get in and far too little on what we will do when we get there
I have one at a big ten school and one applying this fall. Both have spent their high school years shadowing professionals, and exploring careers. When we visit a school we spend the day, we meet academic advisors and tour labs and discuss research.
Reading about these wealthy kids who only want the credential and don’t want to study is an insult to every hardworking teenager in the country. Our top universities should be more selective than that.
170
@Deirdre The credential is meaningful.
Do you think, aside from 'diversity' hiring, the NYT HR department doesn't prefer applicants from 'elite' schools? I remember some years ago when I was looking for work and found a listing on one of the better publishing-industry job sites for a post at the NYT for which I would have been qualified. I attempted to apply, and found that the site I visited had harvested the post from another site, ivygrad, which accepted resumes only from 'prestige' schools. (My college was a good private school, but not Ivy.)
5
I'm struck that students were faking athletic prowess to get into top universities...and why does athletic ability have anything to do with getting into an institution of higher learning to begin with? It is a scandal that many intellectually weak and disengaged students are allowed entry to top schools and paid to go there because they are good at sports. That is an even more pervasive American issue than the rich buying admission.
206
@Doug Athletics probably the only way into a name school. After legacy kids and the diversity allocation the anxious middle class fights for the leftover crumbs.
6
@Doug, because high-profile sports teams bring in lots of money.
5
@Witness
Yes, reflecting American values, so we can't just blame the schools. My alma mater's annual fundraisers have become all about its sports teams. Academics receive nary a word. And the alums go crazy bidding on footballs, helmets etc.
4
We still have an honest investigative arm to call out this illegal bribery. This is welcome news.
The greatest gift a parent can give a child is taking pleasure in learning and networking - whether exercise, learning a foreign language, reading, or making friends.
I got this from my grandparents and parent (my father died when I was very young). Only one of them - my mother - had graduated from the only high school in a small Arkansas town in 1927. I went to public schools and was rich enough to take music and art classes outside of school - so I was privileged for the time. My mother praised me for good grades but let me cut school as long as I made straight A's - a horrible lesson. Anyhow, I got into all the schools I aimed for, including a top Ivy League college, and a good public professional school - UC Berkeley.
By the time I had kids rather late, it was necessary to send them to private schools because public schools in California went downhill from the governorship of Ronald Reagan - who hated the UC! My kids got into the most competitive colleges in the country - literally the highest ranked, one in engineering. The other attended the best small undergrad college in the Ivy League and the most competitve Law School, again in the Ivy League.
These cheating parents failed to teach their kids the love of learning. The kids will suffer more from parental cheating than their criminal parents.
3
It's all sickening and tells you so much about America, where we do not seem to value education or knowledge. The name of the game is money in the U.S. Everything else is secondary. Not so in other parts of the world, where tuition is covered by taxes for those who qualify to go to college in the first place. College isn't for everyone. We should have vocational training for those who do not qualify. As for these "celebrity" children- they have been done a great disservice by their parents. They have been raised as entitled, spoiled, clueless humans with no real skills. They have family money, and thus, power. What could they do with their lives? Join the Peace Corps? Think about breaking away on their own? We might start asking WHY people want children if they are going to treat them this way. Why contribute to the surplus population in the 1% if these kids have nothing to bring to society? It's all very disheartening.
5
Follow the money.
No, actually, don't, because that is what these wealthy, "money-talks," overly ambitious parents did by believing they could buy wealth and happiness for their children by cheating to give their poor (in spirit) children a leg up in this competitive, predatory capitalist, I-got-mine-and-the-heck-with-everybody-else society.
The other problem is the domination of the business model in all aspects of our lives and applied to too many areas where it does not belong--like education for example. Any of us who are teachers knows the havoc the status and money-oriented, bottom-line business mentality has wrought on the values of education, learning, ethics, and basic human decency.
Look no further than how Mr. Trump managed to get himself into the Oval Office.
What is encouraging is how outraged so many of us are, especially students who have worked very hard and played by the rules to go to good colleges.
This sad incident has really incensed all age groups and pulled back the curtain on both the rich and poor casualties of predatory, crony capitalism; the results of rising inequality, lowering taxes on the rich, and neglecting the middle class; and squeezing money out of education and the public sector to feed the insatiable, greedy private sector and the individuals who occupy it.
46
This is why we must provide free college education at the point of delivery paid for through a tax on the very people who had no problem paying these bribes.
11
The best thing Mom and Dad did for me as I was about to start college was to drop me off at the school and say:
"John, we know nothing about college, so you're on your own. best of luck!"
12
Ok. So a few dozen losers and their hanger ons are caught with their hands in the cookie jar. What's the big deal.
Try and convict who ever. Don't complain about the sentences as those are decided by sentencing guidelines which are drawn up by the same lawyers and politicians who proclaim outrage over this, yet another example that mankind fails on occasion.
Life will never be equitable. That's a silly human concept and is not reflected in the real world.
This is not a meaningful effort or campaign. It's an exercise in ad click revenue. For everyone, especially those useless social media businesses.
3
I am reminded of something I learned last year from Howard Gardner, who at the iCOT conference in Miami presented the key findings of his longitudinal research on post-secondary education: students attending less prestigious institutions tend to have more "transformative" college experiences. They are more likely, as a whole, to see higher education as a process by which they are transformed as human beings than as a "transactional" experience. I tell this to my son, who is sixteen, and my students who are 9th and 10th graders at a private college preparatory school: unfortunately, they resist this message because they've so internalized the idea that the prestige of the college they attend will define their future success or failure.
161
@Evelyn Lasky
The prestige of the college one attends does apparently impact the opportunities one is afforded upon graduation. Nabbing one of those hot, enviable positions on Wall Street etc. on average results in much higher earnings potential. But there's less meaning in the work, less confidence in the person you've become.
I can't remember the NYT article a week or so ago that touched on this, but it's worth checking out.
14
@Evelyn Lasky
Spot on. It is the LEARNER that creates the "transformative" experience, not any school he/she attends. It is the student who decides to be a well-rounded, deep-thinking individual; it is the ethos of a corrupt, greedy, materialistic society that derails him/her from achieving that noble goal by bombarding them with images of celebrity & $$$ 24/7 as the gold standard of "achievement."
22
@Evelyn Lasky
They understand the value of attending your private college preparatory school perhaps more than you do. It's not about the education. It's about connections and power. They know that being on the inside is good and they're not going to go get "transformative" and risk being outside. They can always take months' long vacations to exotic locales, do exclusive safaris, and whatever else they want in the time immediately before and after college. The seats will be kept warm and empty for them upon their return.
37
Welcome to Superficiality 101. The Uber wealthy and those who aspire to the breathy heights thereof, have one thing in common with the rest of us. In less than a hundred years, most of them will be gone. What they’re doing regarding college admissions strikes me as desperation to acquire some legitimacy for their status....”We deserve what we have because, see, Isabelle was accepted into Whatever U....we are among the best and the brightest”.....why not just hand the money to the kid? They’re not going out job hunting any time soon...or ever....are they?
6
If the kids in this scandal were aware of what was going on they too are complicit in the scandal. Are there any consequences for them or do they have the right to remain in the university and earn a diploma they do not deserve only to list it on their resumes for future employment and carry on the fraud?
8
@HMP
My guess is that a) many were minors when the criminal conduct took place, so they will receive some protection but b) colleges do not need to hold themselves to the same standards as a criminal court.
If it is clear that the student's test scores or other material entrance materials were falsified, then expulsion seems reasonable, particularly if it can be shown that the student was aware at the time.
8
College sports. It's really messed up that one way to get into a college is to bribe a coach of a marginal sport. I kind of understand that basketball and football contribute to the bottom line of colleges. So yeah, maybe in some ways those 2 programs more than pay for themselves. But the rest? To allow sports programs to fill spots with academically underqualified students and hand out scholarship money at the expense of academically qualified students is gross, especially at colleges that receive taxpayer dollars. As a taxpayer, I am very happy for my money to pay for a smart kid from a marginal community to get a great education in something they have passion for. I'm not so keen on supporting some second rate soccer player for 4 years of fun and a marginal degree that qualifies him to make lattes.
9
@MC From my experience talking to "marginal sport" coaches in some of those elite schools, they do not have power to push through dumb athletes, especially if they are mediocre at the sport. They would lose the recruitment spot if the candidate is not good enough academically. The colleges do care about sport results, but they care more about graduation rates, so they want students to succeed. If we are talking a World Cup or Olympic level athletes, the rules probably are different. But there is not cheating at this level.
Sorry, but - why haven't these students been ejected yet? And why haven't the degrees from older grads whose parents cheated been revoked?
It's not enough to expose the crime - the damage must also be addressed.
23
Speaking of "real values", note that none - NONE - of the corporate sponsors / clients of "professional influencer" Olivia Jade Giannulli even questioned their relationships with her after her multiple crude remarks demeaning the value of education and mocking the value of higher education? Yes, most of those corporations are in the business of the superficial, but it is particularly galling that Amazon and Hewlett Packard weren't put off by her low behavior.
15
@tew I never even heard of her before this week. What is a "professional influencer," anyway? Gross.
2
@tew Once the water boils, they do the right thing: Her largest sponsor, Sephora has dropped her, and Hallmark Channel has dropped her mother.
Poor little rich kids.
Before my dad died, he told me that the greatest professional worry he'd had was the worry that he'd become wealthy. He was a successful, "self-made" businessman who could have been wealthy. But he stopped at "well-to-do" because along the way he had first-row seats for watching how wealth tended to work out for his business acquaintances and colleagues and their families (especially the kids). We have no control over who/what our parents are; I thank my lucky stars that mine had "real values" in abundance.
39
You want meritocracy? Let’s get rid of the electoral college.
60
What does the Electoral College have to do with this scandal?
7
Meritocracy is merit power/rule.
'Merit' is a a branch of 'good'; its linguistic function can be explained--it primarily evaluates. But value words need standards which are like definitions--but valuer dependent.
All evaluation presumes classification. Nothing is good/bad, right/wrong except as this/that. Most items--people certainly-- can be classified in countless ways; their value/goodness/merit may vary with each. A as husband, B as athlete, C as neighbor, D as musician, F as dancer. The letter grades are also value words. A/excellent, B/worse-but good, C/mediocre, D/barely passing; F/failure--no credit/merit of any degree.
To have merit, is to merit/deserve something valuable--like praise/reward. Demerits/wrongs.vices deserve blame.
But evaluations may be themselves evaluated as knowledgeable, discerning, experienced, systematic, coherent, consistent. We defer to the standards of health professionals. And of academic performance, as judged by academics.
Usually passing grades get you promoted to the next. But the system allows reconsideration. A high school diploma is not enough for college/university admission. They have their own standards of merit/meriting admission--primarily based on past academic performance.
But non-academic factors may sneak in. Thus ungrammatical football players. Football pays. So do wealthy donors "paying" for a kids' admission--two forms of academic corruption.
Affirmative action needn't be--circumstances have academic implications.
2
"I don’t want people with pedigrees not earned operating on me, engineering my bridges and buildings, operating my financial system or running my country." sebb, Washington
Sorry Sebb. It's too late. Visible example? Jared Kushner. Oh Messiah of the Middle East - advisor extraordinaire, what joy you shall bring.
80
@AJ LOL! So true.
4
As a state university graduate and retired from a successful career in medicine, I feel privileged to have shared my college experience with many smart people(given the state university's size, there was more than enough of them--replete with great contributors to society as graduates).
Can we stop this meme that you can't go anywhere without an Ivy League education?
All accredited universities provide top notch instruction and classmates that will inspire anyone. I mingled with farmland scions, excellent athletes, previously undiscovered talent, and intellect that amazed.
In short, I don't feel shortchanged, but grateful for an experience that enriched my life by exposure to diverse state citizens. We were emotional equals.
54
Ever wonder where all the rapacious hedge fund managers and soulless politicians come from? Diplomas from elite colleges have little meaning vis a vis an education grounded in developed thought, but are basically a ticket to a privileged life style. No philosophers need apply. No historical perspective necessary. No literary or artistic sensitivity required.
Learn how to maximize the bottom line. Learn how to manipulate the legal system. Extra credit for athletic ability.
Remember how all the cool kids had the best clothes and the newest cars? Nothing will change in college.
Gradually we are becoming a nation of "leaders" who are only knowledgeable about making a buck, and are caught between a past shaped by Google algorithms and a future measured by the cost of becoming a certified expert.
Welcome to the affirmative auction. Mingle with the right people. Guaranteed careers to the highest bidder.
Not that it has ever been any different, only more overt because people are no longer really trying to hide it.
23
@michaeltide
"Remember how all the cool kids had the best clothes and the newest cars? "
Where I'm from the rich kids had the best clothes and cars, period, but that made them thoroughly "uncool". The cool kids were the talented, creative types, the brainy nerds. We still are. Being hip had nothing to do with your dad's money.
7
@Jake News, I'm glad to hear it. I'm not sure that's universally true. Nice to think so, though.
5
@Jake News
I want to go to there.
1
I have to wonder how many of us NYT commentators would prefer:
1) A child who pursued their own high school and academic career based on their own interests, merits, and sense of agency with loving but hands-off parents. This route will be full of mistakes and occasional hard lessons, but also victories. And often these kids may have to take the community college/state university route. Not as glamorous, but your young adult with graduate with a sense of being the master of their own fate.
2) Or an offspring who graduated from a prestigious university but who were essentially pushed in that direction via any number of interfering helicopter parenting techniques including high school experiences full of long hours of studying, test prep, tutoring and quasi-phony volunteer resume building activities that sucked the life out of their youth. A far more glamours route, but at what cost to the young adult’s sense of well-being, self-confidence and agency?
I can’t help but think that the majority would prefer #2.
14
@Annabelle My wife and I have two children. One graduated from a prestigious university and the other from a well-regarded state university. I think both our young adults have a sense of being the masters of their own fate. For some reason with this whole sordid affair, there seems to be an undercurrent that every student in a prestigious university cheated to get admitted. The reality is that it seems the FBI found only a few dozen people to charge involved with less that a few dozen students. Sure, I think we all agree and admit that the wealthy well-supported families have a leg up on admission to prestigious universities, but I don't think cheating is as prevalent as insinuated. Yes, cheating is reprehensible and should be prevented and punished.
4
@Annabelle
Option #1 please.
3
I expect 'outrage' comments for the following.
Getting into college is one thing. Making it through 4 years is quite another.
One cannot fake their way through 4 years of college for STEM degrees. Every single one of svereral professors along the way will need to be bought off. Many professional test takers will need to be hired. If one can not master calculus, solve differential equations, master at the very least Newtonian physics, the list is long, one is simply toast.
14
I don’t know. I am a lab manager and have hired a lot of fresh graduates over the years with science degrees. Many are bright hard working young adults whose careers I am happy and feel privileged to have helped. But I would say roughly a third of my hirees, even with degrees from good schools in areas like chemistry or biochemistry show up not knowing very basic things or have poor ethics and whose work cannot be trusted.
6
@oldBassGuy
One can absolutely cruise through college and not strain a braincell. Besides, at crunch time Mom and Dad will hire the content expert to write your thesis. Easy peasy.
4
What? You think this is new?
Sure. This was more brazen but college admission has always been for sale. Enough money through the development office has always been a ticket for one's offspring.
9
What would the class of 2020 look like if there were no athletics and money and class don’t count?
12
America was built on a rigged system for the elite created by the elite. The You Can Do Anything is just part of that PR
12
I wonder what the "price" is to buy an MBA from Wharton?
20
@peter Trump did not get a MBA. He got a BA. Still bought.
3
This is EVERYWHERE.
James Taylor's and Carly Simon's kids are in the music business. Bet they got there on their merits.
Clothing designer Cynthia Rowley's daughter and Insta sensation Kit Keenan just launched her own clothing line. She's 19. Bet she got there on her merits.
There aren't enough characters in the comment section to begin the litany of "acting families." A sampling includes:
Lily-Rose Depp
Kate and Oliver Hudson (Goldie Hawn's kids)
Robert Downey, Jr.
Jane Fonda and her kids
Michael Douglas and his kids
And on and on and on...
Honestly, when I hear a new talent rising to the top at the "daughter/son of" it makes me as angry as this college scandal. All these people born on third base thinking they hit homers. (I actually don't like that worn trope, but it applies here for sure.)
What meritocracy? It's so rigged everywhere you look.
30
@LindaP I get what you're saying but the fact is that Carly Simon and James Taylor had platinum albums and number one hits and sold out concerts. Their kids don't have any of these things. Sure, they are musicians but that's not out of the ordinary for such a musical family. Carly Simon's daughter went to Brown and created her own major so maybe that's more of a result of privilege and connections. Who knows. The other examples you listed are similar. None of these kids have risen to the same success as their parents (perhaps Kate Hudson) and it's not uncommon for professions to run in the family and follow in the father's or mother's footsteps. I do agree that these families have a leg up. They have influence and connections that regular Joes do not. This is the difference in the college scandal as well. If you are lacking wealth and connections your kid has to get in by merit alone and even then might not "make it". Nothing new under the sun in America where the wealthy have an overwhelming advantage and brand name colleges became brand names because the wealthy perceived them as good and worthy.
James Taylor and Carly Simon’s kids are extraordinary musicians. I'm not so sure how famous they are bc i can't remember their names but i do remember them singing beautiful harmony with their mom. Sometimes it's in the genes.
2
Doing whatever you can to help your kids is as old as humankind. This crossed the line to illegality when overt bribes were paid to college coaches and cheating on standardized tests was bought and paid for. That is fraud.
The ethical issue goes beyond this crime, however. Virtually every building with a name on it at any college likely came with it an implicit or explicit deal to admit a child or a grandchild. How did all the Bushes (notoriously average students) get into Yale? How did Donald and Don Jr. (neither know for their scholastic abilities) get into Wharton? And how did any number of the mediocre sons and daughters of Silicon Valley, hedge fund and private equity billionaires get into these colleges?
Money has trumped qualifications at the elite colleges for a long, long time. We have many very dogmatic people who oppose affirmative action based on face or socio economic status, but they seem to be fine with affirmative action for the sons and daughters of the wealthy. This is the height of ethical hypocrisy.
12
Killing our public universities, over the course of more than two decades, is half the reason we are stuck and in trouble today.
35
It was bad enough putting up with rich men buying trophy wives. Now we have rich parents buying trophy children.
I have a feeling this is as much about parental ego gratification as it is wanting 'my child to have the best education.'
Meritocracy? Maybe in some other country. Not in America.
22
Although the students are not being indicted, I hope the Times will report on whether they are allowed to remain enrolled at schools where they were admitted based on faked merits.
23
“To be honest, I’m not worried about the moral issue here” says all you need to know about this issue and where we’ve gone as a society. It’s not what you do; it’s what you can get away with. The deck is stacked so heavily in favor of those born into the right families or circumstances...and they STILL cheat. And they don’t merely cheat—they have the gall to lecture about meritocracy and how they’ve earned their station while the less fortunate must be dumb, lazy, immoral. It is utterly sickening and there will come a point when the disparities of wealth, opportunity and basic fairness lead to major upheaval.
20
Seriously you hear these parents talking about how they want to be good parents and give their kids everything they want. That is not being a good parent! And also not being a good member of society.
Our job as parents, as difficult as it is and imperfect as we may be sometimes, is to create productive members of society who can take care of themselves and contribute something positive to their communities.
Not only are these parents robbing their kids of the ability to live productive and meaningful lives, they are creating entitled citizens who the rest of us then have to live with and work with or work for. Their cheating and lying is helping to make the divide between the haves and have nots even greater, something that continues to be one of the biggest threats to our country and democracy. People are rightfully outraged that those who are already privileged just seem to want to take more and more leaving it harder for anyone else to achieve the American dream no matter how hard they work
19
@CP Well said!
I saw that Elizabeth Warren said that she has "zero sympathy" for these families and their children. This is exactly the same amount of sympathy I have for her for all the grief she is getting (rightly so) over self identifying as an "American Indian" to further her career. She should demonstrate some values and cop to what she did. I would really respect her. I'm not holding my breath waiting though...... Have a great day!
4
@My Aim Is True She didn't do it to further her career. She was selected on her merits. All the people who hired her said so.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2018/09/01/did-claiming-native-american-heritage-actually-help-elizabeth-warren-get-ahead-but-complicated/wUZZcrKKEOUv5Spnb7IO0K/story.html
12
Yale and Stanford are sitting on endowments in excess of $20B each. Do these schools really need the patronage of oligarchs at the expense of their reputations? If you're a provincial liberal arts college in need of a new gym, then I might see admitting a billionaire's underwhelming scion. And poor USC is under $6B and in an iffy part of town, so let's allow them admitting an Instagram influencer. But Yale?
4
That may be part of how they got their 20B endowment.
2
Don't patch America. Fix it! Revolution II.
Turns out that nothing, that isn't tied down, will remain in place.
"We are a nation of laws." How many times you've heard it.
We are a nation of Republicans - testing the boundaries of what they can get away with.
More severe penalties for white collar crime.
11
Parents are essentially line-breeding mediocrity through accrued wealth, all because they don’t have the heart to tell their children that they’re probably not going to be astronauts, or social media influencers, or whatever people consider to be of “true” societal import.
God forbid people have children, and want them to feel fulfilled in their lives, above and beyond any concern over the most absurd, superficial, status symbols imaginable.
7
Not much word from the students themselves.
How come?
As freshmen in college, most will be age 18.
Surely, if old enough to vote, they would be old enough to discern if they were part of a cheating scam? And if they knew they were the subject of such a scam, why wouldn't they speak up? If not then, when it was unfolding in their behalfs, surely some of them would step up now that it's headline news?
5
@m.carter-Seriously?? What type of moral guidance do you think they’ve been getting their entire lives? They’re not about to bite the hands that have fed, clothed and mollycoddled them.
1
@Carol C.
My point, exactly.
The perception that the college admission system advantages “rich white kids” is used to justify race-based affirmative action, but the system disadvantages far more poor white kids than poor black kids or poor Asian kids. The U.S. Census Bureau 2017 Poverty Report (Table 3: People in Poverty by Selected Characteristics) shows that 26.4 million white Americans, 8.99 million black Americans and 1.95 million Asian Americans live below poverty level. Whites make up 70.72 percent of Americans below poverty level.
Among Americans under 18-years-of-age, 8,041,000 whites, 3,184,000 blacks and 537,000 Asians live below poverty level.
Some of the 33 parents snared in the college admissions scandal are people of color, but some allegedly paid admissions officer to falsely designate their children as members of a racial or ethnic minority. In our most populous states, this would have put their children on equal footing with the majority of students. In our most populous states—California and Texas—non-Hispanic white students are an increasingly small minority.
Non-Hispanics white students make up about 23.3 percent of California K-12 students and 28.1 percent of Texas K-12 students. In these states, non-Hispanic white students know about 70 percent of their classmates are eligible for racial and ethnic preferences when it come times to apply for college admissions.
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2018/demo/p60-263.pdf
1
One more thought- the schools are all in total denial?
What? We had no idea!!!!!
They should be penalized for participating in fraudulent enterprise. A large-dose penalty.
Degrees, advanced degrees and "honorary" degrees should be withdrawn. The kids should be banned fro applying to another school in the US for at least 2 years.
Not so "elite" now.
5
Why is everyone so shocked? We live in a country where dishonesty, cheating on taxes, lying and using power is the norm. Those who voted this culture in and stand by it, sadly, are the ones who suffer the most in this banana republic. This scandal is a big yawn. So they got caught. You would be naive to think it is the only one.
13
I think we are being over zealous when we attribute the ∼50 cases of cheating and to say that the entire system is broken. So 50 students out of tens of thousands over years got in by cheating. Thats less than 1% of seats.
Let's get real here. Your kid didn't get rejected to Yale because of these cheaters. You do not have sufficient evidence for this claim. If you're a genius, Harvard will get you in. This is a fact. I consider the fact that everyone is making assumptions an aspect of Fake News. Where is the data driven argument over anecodte? I encourage further investigation and more data points before pointing fingers.
5
I just read about the man who had his child declared both learning disabled and a football player when he is neither. He must be quite the gem of a father: he wants his child to affirm his status and is willing not just to cheat but to let his son know that he thinks the son is so dumb that he can't make it in life on his own. What a sense of values. How humiliating deep down it must be to the son that he knows that his dad has so little respect for him. Unfortunately some children--Jared Kushner, and the Trump spawn--have also absorbed their parents' repulsive values and actually believe that they deserved to attend the colleges they did and now have knowledge and experience in something other than grifting.
9
People don't seem to know right from wrong anymore. The popular culture promotes these shallow, vapid and stupid people as persons to admire because they are wealthy and/or "beautiful." Post-secondary education used to be primarily about learning about a topic in depth. It used to be about learning to think critically. Lying and rudeness are now celebrated.
11
This is all part of the "gimme, gimme" mentality that is fostered in every part of society today. If the kids don't actually say "gimme, gimme", it's the parents doing so for them. And, in the end, it has less to do with money and class distinctions than it does with the "entitlement" mentality. Everybody is now "entitled" to something - the rich to the university of their choice, the poor to every conceivable type of 'assistance', women to paid maternity leave (or men, in some cases), everybody to paid or unpaid vacation time or a minimum wage that can support a family, serial murderers not to be executed, criminals not to be prosecuted if they turn state's evidence, one's 'word' to be automatically accepted in sex abuse cases, etc., etc. It's not that some of these things may not be good, just that the mentality they foster is one of "gimme, gimme". This current university admissions bribe situation is one result of such an attitude. And if the less wealthy and influential people screaming the loudest about it right now were suddenly to attain wealth and 'status', can they honestly say that they wouldn't try to do exactly the same thing for their own kids? They're entitled, you know, as which of us is not? (That goes for the owners, journalists and guest opinion writers of the Times, too, as some of them may already know!)
2
I feel bad for the kids, who I suspect in many or perhaps even in most cases, don't know what the parents are doing on their behalf. When they find out, the message from the parents is that they don't trust the kids to negotiate life without illegal help. This creates a double-edged sword of kids who feel entitled on the one hand, while deeper down feeling worthless.
4
Our colleges need to take responsibility and not just play innocent victim here when they created this system. Change the system: eliminate the emphasis on standardized tests which obviously advantages wealthy and/or students from better schools, eliminate the emphasis on sports as a back door for admission (heaven forbid the NCAA will lose a bit) and grant applicants interviews with regional reps. and alums to find out the true nature of the applicant. Then maybe the colleges will achieve the "holistic" approach that I keep hearing about on our recent tours!
4
I wonder that Ivy League schools and other academically rigorous universities don't re-evaluate their practice of lowering academic standards when it comes to admitting athletes. Why not just admit the athletes with scores and grades on level with the average admitted student? This is what is done at schools with Division 3 sports programs.
1
Simple idea:
Ivy's should be allowed to admit who they want.
Endowments should be taxed to fund community colleges and a tax break for hiring state college grads + community college associates.
3
I'm ambivalent about this - as a mother, I will do anything to help my children. If I had the money and if my child needed it (for example, for some reason, I felt she wasn't getting the grades she needed for some reason other than not working - learning difficulties, bad atmosphere in school whatever) I would spend any money I had to help her. On the other hand, it's not fair to other parents who don't have the resources. And, above all, it's perhaps not fair to the child who knows his parents had to pay to get him where he is. But, don't we all pay in some way? I feel it's more complicated for some of the parents than it first appears to be.
1
@Alison
"...other than not working..."
That is the problem. Loughlin's daughter publicly stated that she really "doesn't care" about school. So, her parents bought her a spot...while she preens on social media...
Perhaps her spot could have gone to someone whose parents DID NOT PAY for the spot; someone who actually cares about getting an education.
If your child cannot make it in to one of the "elite schools" on brainpower, then there's no crime. LOVE your child; HELP your child (within reason-too much is crippling)--but do NOT buy anything that hard work should provide.
I grew up poor. I am a college graduate, have a Master's and am two years from my doctorate. I worked hard. I went into debt. I have no axe to grind against those kids whose parents didn't tell them to take out loans-my problem is parents buying their otherwise academically unworthy children a spot because it is prestigious.
14
@Alison
Ultimately this all devolves to the tyranny of capitalism.
It's ALL about money.
"I would spend any money I had to help her. On the other hand, it's not fair to other parents who don't have the resources."
1
@Alison
I think playing the mother card to defend this kind of thing is abhorrent. This is not a matter of parental love, this is a matter of ethics and morality. Call me naive, but I believe that most mothers and fathers would be appalled at bribing college gatekeepers for college entrance for their children. The message to the child is devastating: 'you're not able to compete, you're incapable of securing your own place in a college.'
I went to a very small, single sex college(read UNKNOWN), and I never felt it held me back in any way. Imagining that 'name brand' education is everything is the problem. The whole thing is sickening. I have two lovely productive children in their late 20s who have earned their places in their careers and previously, in college, on their own. The kind of pride and self respect they enjoy as young adults and productive members of society is beyond any price. There is no feeling like the feeling of earning something for yourself.
102
This has been an issue that has been around as long as there have been upscale universities. Wealth has always been used to give the elite class special privileges. This is not a surprise to me at all. I have seen it firsthand. Welcome to the world of the wealthy entitled youth.
2
@MC
Agree...sadly, these entitled darlings who've never experienced hardship then leave and expect red carpets to be rolled out...high paying jobs with zero experience; corner offices with magnificient views...an office in the White House.....
5
@MC
Relatively wealthy, entitled parents have always been around to found higher institutions of learning - from at least the Middle Ages.
Poor gifted kids have always been welcomed by institutions of higher learning because they increased the overall level of excellence at the institution. But someone has to pay full tuition to pay the bills. This latest bribery scandal comes after 15 years of terrible government and examples of the rich taking all since the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court.
When cheating favoring the rich and powerful starts at the top - at the Supreme Court - it rots out society all the say down to the gutters.
Shame on these cheaters. Fortunately, they have enough money to pay for psychotherapy for their unfortunate offspring.
In the Torah portion of last weekend the construction of the tabernacle was described in the last chapter of Exodus. Moses made a full accounting to the people of Israel as to how their money was spent for labor and materials. The commentary says Moses was concerned that leadership is always accountable and transparent because of the natural tendency to assume there is graft and corruption. In the United States today we have an example of what happens when leadership is not held accountable, when in fact leadership sneers at ethics and morality and transparently enriches itself as a byproduct of holding office. The result is a population consumed with greed and envious of wealth. A public that is more concerned with the price of something than its value is a troubled one.
12
@alan Another sailent point regarding the construction of the mishkan is that Moses stopped taking contributions when there was enough. No hoarding or stockpiling or skimming for personal enrichment.
Whether this story is taken literally or not, it is an excellent allegory for the college admissions issue and so many others in our age.
5
Let's hear it for the the hardworking families that play by the rules, work hard, teach real values to their children, and do their best to make the world better in smaller, less-glamorous ways. Let's hear it for the firefighters, the social workers, the librarians, the small business owners, the people who read this and are disgusted by the greed of the 1%.
64
As far as the students involved go, this is a self-correcting situation. Those who were truly unqualified or truly lazy will flunk out quickly. The rest will probably survive to graduate, and some may even achieve distinction, whether academic or extra-curricular.
5
@Tommy
My jaw just about dropped when I read "Those who were truly unqualified or truly lazy will flunk out quickly." There are PLENTY of "unqualified and truly lazy" kids that graduate from these schools.
Oftentimes, the spotlight is on those with scholarships in men's football or basketball, because those are the most obvious, concentrated areas. But plenty of rich kids go to these schools and just glide through. One of the SoCal schools involved in the scandal is known for it, with people commonly spelling out its acronym differently from it actual full name.
5
@Tommy You can also just cheat and bribe your way through undergrad as well. Hundreds of stories to that effect if you only look and listen.
5
@Tommy Like Donald Trump at Wharton, for example?
5
In all the discussion about this, I rarely hear anyone question the tacit assumption that college is about getting a career credential. College -- really, all education -- should be about igniting curiosity and then giving students chances to follow it. That's what really motivates people to learn, and to do their best. How many people reading this are in exactly the field they thought they were heading for when they were 19 years old, anyway? Our society's cramped view that each of us only amounts to a salary and a job title is the real tragedy here.
42
@Mark
As a teacher in the Humanities, I think you are right.
9
@Mark
Years ago, perhaps, but when you have to shell out all those tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to college, you had better have some good credentials to get a good job.
1
@Mark
I believe you are 100% correct.
I spent much of my career in engineering and tech companies, and I now work with many people in the arts. It takes all kinds to make a functioning society.
There is no place for a B- engineer or doctor ("Malpractice" is the word that comes to mind). Nobody will want to hire that person. A B- programmer will also have trouble finding a position. And we don't want them building our bridges or treating patients either.
And we desperately need people who are good at those low-paying professions, like teachers, social workers, and yes, artists.
This is why I believe we must change the way education is paid for in this country. We lose too many young people because they cannot afford to get an education.
And those who do not want to be educated should be able to attend a trade school, and not take up space at college. Even if your parent is a movie star.
4
Apparently none of these parents has much faith in their own kids' abilities, dreams, gumption, or initiative. Quite the opposite - and instead demonstrate to them that, "this is how you game the system".
37
Unearned achievement has a deeply corrosive effect that is much longer lasting than the positive effects achieved by working hard to earn your way to success.
Those students who were admitted by cheating haven’t learned the most important lessons. They have achieved nothing: their parents merely purchased college for them. Their college experience at a so-called prestigious university will not benefit them in the same ways that college benefits students who earn their way in, and through, an institution of perhaps lesser pedigree.
It’s certainly true that a degree from Yale might get you in the door at a highly thought of financial institution. It does not, however, automatically prepare you to achieve once there. Eventually the corrupt privileged student becomes a corrupt, privileged worker, and over time, the fortune that created the advantage begins to become diluted.
Talent and hard work create long term growth. Money used corruptly creates nothing and eventually dissipates.
19
"Private institutions like Stanford have the right to shape their student bodies based on their own values."
Nope, not as long as they are supported directly and indirectly by public money: research grants, charitable donations, etc. That said, better funding for public universities is crucial. UC Berkeley was almost free when I went there is the 60s.
65
@John Williams
Not to mention federal student loans and grants.
18
@John Williams
ABOLUTELY.
3
@John Williams
LOL. "Private institutions like Stanford have the right to shape their student bodies based on their own values."
Leland Stanford would be turning in his grave if he
knew how elitist his creation has become. Ironically, his values & intentions were 180º from where that institution stands today. Here's something that Stanford U. would not publicize:
"Beyond Capitalism: Leland Stanford's Forgotten Vision"
http://dynamics.org/~altenber/PAPERS/BCLSFV/
3
Maybe American university should have the same admitting criteria as Oxford University, no legacy admissions and they are neutral on whether you play a sport or not and there are no scholarships for sports
76
@Rich Murphy
yes, or even like in Switzerland, where I could go to the university ETH with a high school diploma without suffering through a maddening admission process and where the curriculum was rigorous and graduation strictly based on passing exams and requirements and not on opaque criteria or lottery and where I could pay the tuition myself (a minimal 1000 dollar yearly fee at the time 1982).
2
Wondering how many other ‘charities ‘ are also offering unethical services such as reducing taxes et al for the 1%
Apparently there’s a lot of cottage industries we’ve never heard of.
The law of the jungle has and will prevail.
7
What nobody seems to be focusing on is the role of sports in getting students into elite schools. The articles suggest that up to 20% of the spaces are allocated to sports. In the last thirty years, there has been a significant rise in sports where white and/or upper middle class students seem to excel: lacrosse, soccer, water polo, sailing, crew, etc. It is not surprising that the fake "athletes" were in these sports. What the elite schools should do is to abandon the preference for athletes. This would be a major step to opening up their admissions.
46
@GL San Diego
The last thirty years was the period of continued implementation of Title IX. If colleges wish to keep their lucrative and popular male sports programs they need to have substantially equal representation in female sports. So as a first order approximation is a near doubling.
1
Isn't this really about the rich having the ultimate status symbol, a child who attends an elite university, which reflects how excellent their parenting was?
Now, for all the world to see, less than stellar mom/dad skills...
60
This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of codified unfairness in American society. Back in the early 2000's, the administrative heads of Sandia National Laboratory, a sister lab to Los Alamos Laboratory, decided to recruit new scientists from only five prestigious universities, " otherwise they'd be swamped with solicitations" during openings. My then-husband objected, but was over-ruled. I bet this is not the only workplace with such a rule.
28
@Susan, RN
The Supreme Court is even narrower.
2
This scandal is all about the parents. Despite their great wealth, these parents are empty people. They want to be able to say (brag), "My daughter/son is at Harvard/Penn/Georgetown." This is about the parents ego and their need to validate themselves through the academic success of their kids.
68
@ScrantonScreamer
Sounds like these parents are stealing from their children.
2
Those calling for these students to be expelled are assigning blame to the students for their parents' acts. I think that goes too far in most cases.
On the other hand, requiring them to reapply for admission after this academic year is completed with the understanding that their application will receive extra scrutiny would be appropriate.
25
@Cameron
I would agree, except the fake athletes had to be in on it. They should be booted, after an appropriate hearing. I can't imagine what kind of person fakes being an elite soccer soccer player, or anything else.
7
Why are the children of the wealthy even going to college unless they want to become doctors, lawyers or engineers? They can do anything else they want just on the strength of their parents' names and social connections and meanwhile live on trust funds awaiting the big payoff when their parents pass on. If we viewed college as an incubator for expanding the middle class, a parent's wealth would count against their children getting into any college, private or public. To improve our society and economy, the intellectually qualified children of the poor, working and middle classes should get priority. Imagine that.
28
When I was first applying to an undergraduate program, it was a Quaker college in Indiana with a "need-blind" admissions policy. How revolutionary! When I transferred to my alma mater, a "Little Three" university, the admissions paperwork asked for the names of my relatives and their alma maters: A formal way to ask: Are you a legacy?
For fairness sake, this question should be eliminated.
17
@Susan, RN,
"For fairness sake, this question should be eliminated."
Indeed it should be, and I'll go a step farther: Federal agencies that bestow grant money on your alma mater should be alerted. They won't be pleased.
1
I live in an affluent suburb of Seattle. I can still feel the raw emotions that came through in conversations with parents when it came time to say " where their student was going to college. " There are parents who simply CANNOT accept that they have a child who may not end up at a school that fits the image the parents want to portray. Has anyone ever seen kids wearing Stanford sweatshirts in elementary school? Parents on the sidelines of sporting event wearing Harvard hats? How about the parent that has their car advertising where they went to school either by a sticker or a license plate? The kid in the backseat did not go to that school. And does not really earn the right to go either..except by honest, hardwork. Parents are supposed to help their children find a good " fit ". IMAGE distorts this for many, many parents. Seeing Felicity Huffman leaving the courthouse looking like a real person, no make-up, unstyled, no sequins.....and imaging how she must be feeling about attaching this scandal to her daughters for the rest of their lives, UGH. Hard to see...so hard to see, and without a doubt I am thinking she must be wishing she would have just let her daughter find the right FIT for her according to what her test scores really were. Is Chapman really all that bad?
57
One thing everyone should note is that these parents are not really 'wealthy'. If they were, their children could just inherit their wealth, and wouldn't need to bother going to college.
But the parents are in fact high-earning workers. When they die, their money and income is gone. So in order to pass on their living standards to their children, they need them to teach them how to be high earners.
Very few of the qualities you need to have to be a high earner are taught in Ivy League schools, at least at the college level. A degree without the skills it implies will turn out to be worthless in the real world. The world of work is intensely competitive, and there's no way to fake it. If your portfolio loses money, or you alienate clients instead of bringing them in, you're out.
So in the long run, these methods don't really work. You might get a foot in the door, but your real lack of ability will soon be exposed.
14
@Jonathan Ivy League provides opportunities for people meet the "right" connections. But it is not a guarantee of making millions or success.
8
@Jonathan, according to various online sources, Lori Loughlin and her husband are worth around $100 million. That qualifies as wealthy.
25
@Alan - The other parents include lawyers, doctors, dentists, and real estate dealmakers.
3
Of all the things to be outraged about, I don't really think this is that surprising. We have elevated education to such heights, why wouldn't people do all they can to get into these top schools. The networks these schools provide make it worth the risk.
I'm not trying to come across as cynical, but this doesn't bother me. Will there be any changes to the admission process? I doubt it. Will we pay lip service to it? Of course we will. Journalists have to report on something and they will feed the outrage cycle.
2
One comment writer wrote: "So much raw greed on display. Such anxious, seething lust for status, position, privilege, and money."
******
The parents have just put a target on the backs of their kids who will always be known as people who probably are not as innocent as they seem and whose future actions may well be judged by how their parents behaved in this scam.
38
How lucky the children of these helicopter parents must now feel.
10
Hopefully this scandal will put the ivy league degree in perspective. Maybe then employers will hire based on character, skills, and talent over an elite degree.
42
Good luck to any parent trying to instill real values in their children, with Trump in the White House (and Republicans enabling him).
87
@Jay Orchard,
I don't know, my soon-to-go-to-college daughter seems to be fine. she wouldn't even call in sick to work today to catch up on overwhelming schoolwork because it wouldn't be right and they need her.
2
There is a word that has been removed from the SAT preparation books, and that word is INTEGRITY. Judging by how all of the rich people have been behaving trying to get their sub-par children into universities where they do not belong or qualify to attend, integrity has been missing for a very long time.
43
Having just read another article about tearing down a cross, I agree there is an ever-pressing need to teach your children some moral values. Is it still OK to equate the word values with the word church? If so, then go! In today's world, the word culture is decaying rapidly. This story is a prime example.
3
@aries given how the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention have had their moral high ground leveled to show what they really are, I’d rather look beyond them to the parents who will model and live genuine personal values,
2
@aries - You don't have to go to church to be moral. And vice versa.
3
@aries Individual churches may still be inculcating values but many are only dedicated to more money, discrimination, pedophilia and hypocrisy. The fact that anyone can claim to have moral values and voted for Trump makes our moral swill even more obvious than this particular standard.
2
While this particular situation is absurd is it's monstrously wide scope, this set of tactics, without the Photo-Shopping has been going on forever- so the outrage is collective now, but has been suffered silently by really gifted kids who could not get into elite schools because of the "old boy system" -wink-wink.
The whole society needs to be doing a better job with kids in terms of honestly, responsibility and acceptance- from A to Z from top to bottom- in all strata. When you make an excuse for a kid who is wrong, you have made an excuse out of the kid. When you set examples for your children, they will follow them. Stop being your children's BFF's (vomit), and be their parents.
Saying that particular situation is a manifestation of Trump, or YouTube or music videos or anything else is just wrong.
Deal with history contextually, and start to act like real adults.
7
Perhaps this should be a real investigation and true, the kids and their parents ought to be held accountable. I would suggest that the universities themselves ought to strip these kids of their degrees where obviously, they had no business being in that educational school based uppon merit. The results of those investigations ought to made public, with no possibility of parents or their children getting their money back or saving themselves from ridicule. If the punishment is severe enough, we won't have to put up with this braand of hubris in the future. Of course that doesn't spare us from the conspiracy theory of voter fraud perpertrated by the Republicans, Birther nonsense, Immigrants are the primary causers of violent crime or some other stupidity or craziness creaated by Fox and Friends.
10
"When I first heard about this story, I really did wonder what was actually criminal about this very bad behavior. Families have been gaming the system forever to get their children into top schools. How is bribing a coach all that different from writing your child’s essay? It’s just a heavier thumb on the scale. — Marcia Goodrich, Michigan"
This drive me nuts, just because it was OK in the past does not mean we should continue to accept it.
61
@Tim Finnegan
What people are forgetting is that William Singer and his clients are committing actually crimes: tax fraud, conspiracy, falsifying documents, faking records, and making false claims. This is not the same as donating a gym (which may or may not get your kid into the college) or having a grandparent who went to the college.
8
@Tim Finnegan
Right....Submitting counterfeit material, bribery, having others take the tests for the child are criminal behavior aside from their intellectual and moral dishonesty. It was not OK in the past and it is not OK today.
9
@Tim Finnegan I agree! Being apathetic and cynical is an easy way to sidestep the 'outrage cycle' mentioned by another unmoved commenter. I'd argue that if you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention. Let your frustration fuel you to improve the status quo. Demand better of ourselves and our peers, instead of blindly accepting the moral decay of our society.
6
Elite schools could simply ask on the application if/what kinds of external support they received in preparing their applications. Believe me, it would completely stigmatize the prep industry if parents thought they had to divulge this information and/or if they thought paying thousands of extra dollars for SAT prep, writing support, etc. it might look 'bad' on an application. Sure, a student could lie, but how comfortable would most people be knowing that they submitted a fraudulent app to their Ivy League school? Particularly if the specter of getting caught would mean expulsion?
36
@Eriq, Apparently, several dozen people felt just fine lying and bribing their children's way into college. Most people couldn't afford to do what these people did, but then, most people aren't sending their kids to Stanford and Harvard.
2
@Eriq This case has nothing to do with the prep industry. It was about a man who pretended to be a consultant while arranging bribes and other crimes.
5
@Eriq
Problem is, the schools don't really want to know this information as long as they get the tuition money.
3
The college admission scandal is an unsurprising consequence of parents having been part of the"Me Generation." Don't expect any "real" values to be developed by these parents. Maybe they can hire a private tutor to teach their children proper values.
19
We are so far from the equal opportunity meritocracy that we purport to be. And it is slipping farther away. The future of the world is in Asia, not here, and I feel sad for my kids.
23
I have absolutely no problem with anyone paying tutors to help their children increase their knowledge and capacity to meet the testing on the SAT or ACT or in an admissions office. The child has earned whatever results he or she gets in an even playing field. Bribery, fraudulent documents, misrepresentation of skills and life experiences is just criminal. It sets the wrong kind of example for the kids on the receiving end of the results. It is also a reflection of the kind of values we are seeing played out on the national scene. Rationalizing the betrayal of fundamental ethical values leads to simply rationalizing that greed is good and justifies any immoral behavior.
44
@David Avila "No problem with anyone paying tutors to help their children increase their knowledge and capacity".... David, if the tutoring were only for that, I'd agree, but many of these programs are designed to improve test-taking *technique* rather than brush up on differential equations or European history. This unfortunately teaches kids ways to get around learning, rather than on learning more content more deeply.
7
@Donia
Anybody can get "how to take the SAT" books out of any public library and work their way through the book for practice. Anybody. Or they can buy their own copy for $30
3
@sjs Is buying a book is as good as getting a $100 per hour tutor? I think not. Face it, even upper-middle class kids have a big advantage over working class and poor kids of equivalent IQ. They have time to study instead of working a part-time job. There is no such thing as a perfect meritocracy when it comes to kids who were born lower income.
4
Of the people involved that I have read about, the daughter of the Full House actress seems almost cartoonish as an example of the kind of young person obscene wealth and privilege creates. She appears to be shallow, vapid and completely self-absorbed. She is going to be humbled mightily in the coming days and it may be the best thing that ever happens to her. Her parents have abdicated their responsibility to raise a decent human being, but life itself may teach her a lesson or two. Maybe she will come out of it a better person.
200
@Maureen Judgement of the young lady depends on your perspective. She definitely appears a disinterested student without the academic qualifications necessary to be admitted to USC, but she has already proven a savvy marketer.
I think she's a poster girl for the fact that college isn't necessary for everyone. There is still a place in this country for vocational/practical education.
17
@Maureen she'll be fine.
She never cared about school and her followers don't care either.
She's Insta-famous and that's all that needs to matter to her. She's already worth more than you and I will earn in our lifetimes together.
32
@Holly P
Would anybody care if she wasn't going to an elite school? Would they follow her adventures at a trade school?
5
Do these kids actually want to go to top schools? Are they ambitious and talented? Do they deserve to attend based on their academic achievements? Why do these parents insist on controlling their kid's futures? Maybe they want to be a welder or go into a cloistered religious life or do social work....let them decide, its their lives. This sort of thing destroys the meaning of these "top schools" reputation....do those diplomas mean anything now? No ethics or integrity. I feel sorry for the kids....but they need to be removed from the school and if graduated their diplomas are not legit.....Community College is really a great option of course.
23
@Sandra Garratt,
FYI. You need to get at least a bachelors degree if not an advanced degree to do social work these days. It is not sufficient to just want to do good, as a legislator said 40+years ago when we were getting licensing legislation passed.
2
"‘Our children are not trophies for us to show around’" All you have to do is look around at wealthy families and watch how little they interact with their children, if at all. The kids do have nice new ipads to "keep them busy". Jim Brokaw or California is right. I taught at UC, Berkeley for 23 years. There were many smart deserving Middle Class kids that were a wonder, and then the "entitled" class that thought they deserved a A grade even if they didn't do the work. I enjoy retirement now.
87
This is an sample of why we got Trump. we taught by example that cheating is okay if you can get away with it. Morals Matter and and Trump has none.
223
@sbanicki
It makes me physically ill--actually nauseous--to think about the lying, cheating, dirtbag ways people get ahead of others. Greed makes people ugly.
9
@sbanicki
Do not forget that a majority of the people who cheated the system to get their kids preference are Democrats. It is a knee jerk reaction to blame the people who voted for Trump when morals are discussed. I'll wager the main perpetrators of this scandal hate Trump as much as you do.
2
@Bill,
the two most visible ones maybe. but there's quite a mix in that list of 50 or so.
4
University should expel all these students and police should arrest these kids along with parents as punish this behavior. They need be taught a lesson and is this lesson prevent others from cheating. It is fraud isn’t it? But I expect none of these kids will have any punishment since they are all rich kids and I guess mostly or all white. I bet if some poor kid cheated he would be expelled immediately. This reminds of the movie “scent of a women”, where a poor scholarship kid was to be expelled for not telling on some rich kids who had done something wrong, but were in no real trouble for their crime as their rich daddies were protecting them.
33
@Stephen Gergely Agree. If you are a Madoff kind of fellow and give your (unsuspecting) wife a big chunk of your ill-gotten gains, wifey still has to fork it over when hubby is caught and reparations are sought.
The kids can re-apply, using new (well-proctored) test scores, and can even use their grades for work already performed at the university in considering whether the school should re-admit them. But leaving in there if they didn't earn the slots? While deserving applicants are left out? No.
4
@Stephen Gergely, I agree. The parents will certainly claim that their kiddies didn’t know anything about what they were doing. What kid, so bright and talented that s/he got into Yale or USC, is completely clueless about his/her own application? About his/her SAT scores? At best, the most ignorant of them is guilty of possession of stolen goods. Most, I’d bet, were merrily, proudly complicit. They should be expelled immediately and then left to law enforcement to determine criminal activity.
6
The parents of these children have values; they just happen to be those of our society and not those set forth in moral teaching or religious doctrine. Why should we expect the means to obtaining an education to be different from the lessons of life to be learned after graduation? Society is corrupt, and the current college scandals merely reflect that corruptness. What the world needs is a paradigm shift in human thought and behavior.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds would see the survival of a particular group of people or a belief as more important than the survival of all. When we understand all this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
5
We need a paradigm shift but no computer will suffice. It must come from the heart.
7
@RLB please spare me those acting from "moral teaching" and religious doctrine. Ask the Catholic Church how indoctrination has worked out for them. Religious teaching or affiliation does not equal persons acting with character and integrity. Step down you do not have the moral high ground.
Readers and writers decry the loss of "meritocracy" in the US. Umm...what meritocracy would that be?
Looking closely, I have found very few examples of it--and certainly not a culture of it. It's one of those myths, like the "separation of church and state," "one person, one vote," "liberty and justice for all," and, "innocent until proven guilty." Nice sentiments, but little or no evidence that they exist.
In a meritocracy, those with the most ability and virtue would rise to the leadership. See any of that lately? Ever?
157
@William Romp: The most obvious proof that America isn't a meritocracy: George W. Bush and Donald Trump both became President. The Republican Party is a launching pad for wealthy dolts willing to accept powerful positions they're abysmally unqualified for regardless of the harm their arrogance will cause others.
25
@William Romp I would "recommend" your comment twice if I could. You're exactly right -- what once were grounding values are now shallow platitudes -- and that is the larger message this episode underscores.
9
@William Romp Lately? No - definitely not. But ever? Have a look at the people FDR surrounded himself with, and the men (sorry - it was the times) who came to the top after WWII.
5
There was a time in my twenties when things weren’t going right for me at school.
So I took the problem to my father and even before I could explain
It to him he was pulling on his jacket and heading out the door to try to fix it for me.
I don’t remember to say a prayer for my parents every day, but on most days I do.
4
@A. Stanton - I guess this was supposed to be heartwarming, but...
You didn't say what was going wrong for you at school or what your father did to fix it.
But if you were a college student in your twenties, you were an adult and should not have been depending on your parents to fix your school problems.
2
@A. Stanton,
I hope this is not a point of pride.
My son commutes 4 hours a day to get to high school. He is graduating on June 1 with a 3.9 gpa and got a 1500 on his SAT. He will not be getting into a Ivy because he is a white catholic kid without perfect scores. I don't care!! My son is a polite, respectful young man with manners of a adult. He dated in high school, went to dances, helped people in need and that cost him a perfect average for those perfect Ivies. My son deserves to go to a great school and he will . We can't afford to pay off coaches, or pay for test prep, or give Yale more money in their 30 billion endowment. This scandal illustrates just how messed up the college admissions process is in this country. If you have the money, you will get into a Ivy league school. Those that deserve a chance, don't. Money talks and colleges take it.
193
@Mickey your son will do wonderfully in life because he is hard working, community oriented, and has established a good work/life balance already (yes, it's important to have a social life). You are doing everything right. May other parents follow your example!
91
@Mickey don't get caught up in the madness of college admissions! Your son will do fine
I am a white female from a middle class background who attended a NYC Specialized High School. I worked very hard and had good scores (not as good as your son!) I was accepted into one Ivy but chose to go to a less prestigious university that offered me a full scholarship. I will never know if that was a mistake, but it did allow me more flexibility in choosing my grad school and career, knowing I didn't carry the weight of debt.
Maybe in finance or business it matters, but I am in medicine where no one cares where you attended undergrad.
42
@Anjou
You did the right thing. I went to the college that meant I would graduate without debt. Best decision I ever made.
23
It’s criminal to even use the term “state university” when the state funds about only 20% of the budget.
Out of state students will generally pay double the tuition at most of the top state schools.
Consequently, some top “state” universities are almost like private colleges. University of Michigan has about 50% out of state students.
73
Any employer looking at a candidate with a supposedly elite degree is going to have to wonder whether the candidate earned or paid their way in.
48
@Rob - A surprising number of employers avoid these 'elite degree' graduates, because they don't need know-it-all prima donnas in their business.
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As usual, "The Simpsons" had something prescient to say about the situation a season or two ago, when they peered into the future and Lisa was in college, infatuated with a wealthy classmate. I hope they repeat that episode before the hoopla dies down.
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@carrobin: Lisa eventually dumps him because he's a snob who looks down on her parents.
In another episode, Lisa becomes President of the US after her predecessor, Donald Trump, almost destroys the country.
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