The college admissions scheme that has been making headlines throughout the past week involved many wealthy families, including that of well-known “Full House” actress Lori Loughlin, who allegedly paid thousands of dollars to elite universities and coaches to accept their children. This outrageous scam has displayed the jarring reality of wealthy families using their privilege to get what they want.
According to CNN, some of the activities involved were cheating on standardized tests and bribing college coaches and school officials to accept the student as an athlete — even if the student never played a sport before. A few of the schools involved have been identified as the University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, UCLA, University of California, Stanford, Wake Forest, The University of Texas at Austin, Georgetown University and Yale.
This situation has created an uproar among poor and middle-class families and students. For years, wealthy families have been bribing and scamming their way to dominance. These parents may have cared deeply about their children receiving a greater education, but have they ever considered that their actions may affect someone who actually deserves a position at these schools? Their actions may have robbed a truly worthy student of the chance to attend the school of their choice.
Greed for money and power has officially corrupted the education system. More trustworthy school officials and coaches need to be hired to aid in fixing the problem at hand. Although this scandal has been brought to light and made people more aware of what is done behind closed doors at these specific universities, it makes you think about the ways in which other schools across the world perpetuate inequality.
Are other schools being bribed by wealthy families in order to grant a free pass to their children who lack responsibility and integrity?
This concept makes inequality in the admissions process even more infuriating. Life is not easy, and it takes a lot of hard work and determination to get into college the proper way. One must study for standardized tests, apply to numerous colleges, pay application fees and complete several other tasks before they arrive at the admissions process.
Investigations are still underway and the parents, school officials and coaches involved have been charged.
Some people will go to any lengths to get ahead, and this is truly unfortunate.
