"And also USC." Exactly. When if ever did the University of Spoiled Children of Limited Intellectual Ability from Wealthy Orange County Families become an elite college?
I don't get it.
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Very elitist of Noah to take a dig at USC... He didn't even go to college
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When, like Olivia Jade, you get into a university not based on your academic qualifications, but on the strength of athletic prowess in a sport you have never practiced and have your face photoshopped onto a picture of an authentic athlete of said sport, to present to admission officials, please don’t expect us to believe that these kids were not well briefed about how to respond appropriately during the admissions process.
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My son Roper study really hard for his college school and now is in the best NY school Maritime School for Sailors. Roper he will soon on a boat to Nigeria and he did not have to pay soccer coach to do that. So not so necessary to scandal if you work hard and don't not cheat people.
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Because colleges admit only a small percentage of those who apply, getting into college is a highly-competitive, zero-sum game. For every applicant who is accepted, many are rejected. Each year colleges establish a limit on how many freshmen will be admitted.
If jocks are given admission preference, there are fewer openings for non-jocks.
If legacies are also given preference, there are fewer openings for non-jocks and non-legacies.
If some students also get admitted via bribery or cheating, there are fewer openings for non-jocks, non-legacies and non-cheaters.
If some students of color are admitted over white students with higher test scores and GPAs, there are fewer openings for non-jocks, non-legacies, non-cheaters and high-testing/high-GPA whites.
This is basic math, which is value-neutral; all of the preferences noted above inevitably reduce the numbers of non-preferred students admitted, including high-testing/high GPA white students.
There are arguments to be made in favor of the preferences noted above (except cheating) but, as Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts put it, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." [Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, 551 U.S. 701 (2007)]
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court and Congress have not yet found ways to achieve racial equity in our schools without discriminating against some non-minority students.
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Puh-leeze! I know these kids were so dumb that they could not get into a so called "good" college (e.g., USC? say what?) without their parents committing bribery or other crimes to gain admission for the little darlings. However, it seems highly likely that most of these kids were aware of what was going on.
A proctor sat next to the kid and provided or changed test answers? The kid had to know.
Another person took the test instead of the kid? The kid had to know.
The kid took a photo on a rowing machine pretending to be a rower? The kid had to know.
The kid was given extra time to take the test due to disability? The kid had to know that he/she did not have a disability.
Were there possibly a few instances where a kid somehow did not know his parents had cheated to gain him/her admission? Maybe, but doesn't seem very likely.
Many, perhaps most, of the kids were not "caught up" in the crimes but were witting participants. To preserve any sense of decency and ethics the colleges need to investigate not just what crimes the parents and their enablers committed, but what the kids knew and did. In any case the kids, witting or not, need to be expelled. (If a parent steals a car and gives it to his kid, does the kid get to keep the car? I don't think so.)
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@Mal T Part of the evidence was conversations in which some of these parents and the guy running the scam discussed that the kids could not know and how to keep it that way. One such discussion, the guy told the parent how the daughter would "take the test" but her test would be swapped for one with a fixed score. One of the problems mentioned would be that the daughter might want to take it again, see if she could do better, "don't let her do that," and how to talk her out of it. Another was of a mother saying "uh oh, my son was talking to someone at the college who mentioned I hear you are in (whatever sport) and he said, no I am not," and the mother was all, what do we do now? So not every kid did know, and it should be easy to find out who knew and who didn't. I still don't think they get the place in college, but they should be exonerated if there is real reason to believe they were not in on the cheat.
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@Mal T excellent analysis! the same rigorous analysis applies to the so-called Dreamers, who MUST ALL be deported for the reasons you cite hear. Well done!
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There is certainly no shortage of daily political occurrences upon which to dump.
Well done! And to these various Late Night Hosts, I hope you continue to run strong and run deep.
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Jokes aside, why are any of these falsely admitted kids still enrolled in college? They should have been expelled the same week the indictments were announced against their parents.
Federal grand jury indictments mean a preponderance of evidence convinced an impartial group of people that crimes were committed.
The parents need to come clean about their bad judgment: Apologize to the colleges they scammed and apologize to their kids for being bad parents. Didn't mean it? Doesn't matter. Because they DID mean to cheat the system.
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NBC killed the Olympics in the United States.
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Trevor Noah is so right about these kids. Let’s make sure that this applies equally to the so-called Dreamers, and that w/o exception, each so-called Dreamer is rounded up and deported. Shouldn’t be a problem—we know where they live! Thanks, Trevor!
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@John Galt
Your ethnocentrism is astounding and completely unwarranted. There is absolutely no parallel between the misconduct of parents and college coaches of the wealthy kids who were fraudulently admitted to "elite colleges" and the children of undocumented immigrants. I sincerely doubt that Trevor Noah (an immigrant himself) would agree with your unwarranted and nonsensical assertion.
"So-called Dreamers" are children who were brought here by their parents and who have become "Americans" through their education, economic and social contributions to our society, and allegiance to our country's ideals. Moreover, they have followed all the legal procedures required under DACA to be classified as a Dreamer.
Of course, identification of undocumented immigrants who are convicted felons (which was the primary basis for deporting the undocumented in prior administrations) should be continued.
However, the current policy of denying lawful entry to anyone crosses our borders, have qualified as Dreamers, or who are gainfully employed here now (e.g., working in agriculture, building homes, as well as teaching in our universities) is economically unsound and will work to our country's detriment in the long term.
In addition, the "greatness" of America today was and is characterized by the assimilation and contributions of immigrants since the founding of Jamestown, and very likely included your own forebears, Mr. Galt.
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@John Galt
Dreamers didn't manipulate the system. Most dreamers are better people than verified u.s. citizens. Your hatred of those less fortunate is truly disgusting.
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@wysiwyg
Isn't your argument something a double standard though?
It seems to me your argument in favor of Dreamers is that they are here through no fault of their own, have done nothing wrong, and are contributing members of society.
For the students who got in based off of parental cheating they didn't know about, they too have done nothing wrong. And if they are handling their classes well and are an asset to the school, the same logic seems to argue that they should be allowed to stay.
Or to continue the Tinder analogy, if the date goes well despite you not looking like Chris Hemsworth, there's no real reason to break it off just because someone else cheated.
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Why do you use the phrase “caught up” in the headline? The passive voice implies an editorial judgment of innocence and ignorance. Why not use “involved” or “benefited” or “helped”? This is supposed to be a news story, not an opinion piece.
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