GBear4Life said:
Am I the only one that finds this, at least from a moral standpoint and harming-of-others standpoint, pretty mild?
I get why it's a big story (the rich elite white collar crime is always sensational) and it's unequivocally shady, but I think ultimately inconsequential. In theory, they are keeping a few seats from other more deserving who will end up at other excellent schools as a result.
Let me explain this to you. And I want to start by saying I'm not mad at you. I may get emotional in my writing because I'm outraged by this whole story and the whole process. This is very personal for me.
I have a kid who is a junior in high school and one coming up 3 years behind. So this is very real for me right now. I see my kid and her friends going through this. And it is not just the process of applying to college but it is the whole academic career.
The percentage of people applying to college has skyrocketed. It is not like when I was in school. Schools that were safety schools when I applied are now classified as elite. When I applied, I could afford to turn up a middle finger at "elite" private schools (and I did) because I put in the effort got the grades, and I couldn't be sure I'd get into every college I applied to, but I could be sure I'd get into most of them. That is not how it is now. Kids with perfect GPA's and perfect test scores and good extacurricular accomplishments can find themselves at UC Santa Cruz wondering why.
Kids who want an elite college experience now grow up working really hard for it. They make sacrifices. They stay up late working on their studies many nights. They develop themselves in ways outside of school. And you watch your kid doing that. And you watch her friends that do that. And you watch her friends who DON'T do that.
See, here is the thing. You go and look at the test scores for each school. Now what they do is report the range of test scores from the 25th percentile in the admitted class to the 75th in the admitted class. So you look at a school you like and say you see 25th is a 29 on the ACT and 75th is a 32. Well, I've got a perfect 36. And I have all A's. And I have great activities. This is a safety school for me, right? Wrong. Because who knows how they decide that kids that would be in the 99th percentile academically in the class don't qualify, but they do. It's not just a handful. It is a lot.
At this point, getting good grades and test scores buys you a lottery ticket. That is it. There is no sure way to get in anywhere. You can't work harder than your peers, be more talented than your peers, be smarter than your peers. That doesn't do it.
And then you look and you see the rate of acceptance for legacy admissions for some of these schools. And then you see a kid who you've known all your life who has slacked off all his life get into an Ivy. An Ivy he doesn't want to go to because he hates school. He's embarrassed to go. His friends give him the business, nicely but persistently. And he knows they are right. But Mom and Dad want him to go. (true story).
And then you read something like this article where literally half the kids in certain zip codes are having their parents pay doctors to diagnose them with a learning disability so they can have 2 days to take a test instead of 4 hours. HALF. And the parents think this is okay. And the doctors think this is okay. Personally, I think they all should go to jail and the doctors should permanently lose their license. Howe despicable do you need to be to pose as handicap. Would they fake paralysis to get an advantage? Would you think that is okay?
And then you see rich parents get their kids trained in some stupid little sport that is extremely expensive, like sailing, and get them into some school that has a Division III program. Or, Dad will put up seed money for a business, run the business in his kid's name, and pretend like the kid spent his high school years running a profitable business when he had nothing to do with it.
And now they go beyond all of that and just buy their way in? Sure thing.
Look, when you see kids grow up smarter and better and more talented, and you see them put in literally thousands of hours more work to develop themselves and you know they would kick that kid's ass in the classroom if given a shot because they've kicked that kid's ass all their lives, it does not seem like a minor moral transgression. It is not like there are tons of spots and a handful of them go to someone undeserving. There are not nearly enough slots for all the talented hard working kids. To jump the line for your lazy, dumbass kid who doesn't need or want the opportunity is disgraceful. If they stole $50 from a liquor store, they'd be in jail. They take an opportunity from someone worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it is a minor moral transgression.
I would submit to you that if you walked around with a high school kid who truly has the talent and work ethic to make the most of the opportunity, you wouldn't feel this way. Yeah, they'll be successful. They deserved better. They deserved that kid's slot. And I guarantee you they do not view the harm as mild.
They need to put the fear of god into these parents. No one should feel safe faking a kid's learning disability after this. I hope they get extensive jail sentences for this. That is the only thing they can't buy their way out of. I do not resent wealthy people. I resent takers. These people are takers.
