There’s a Larger Lie Beyond the College Admissions Bribery Case

Time ^ | March 14, 2019 | Bryan Caplan

[C19fan]

The FBI charged a list of well-heeled parents, including actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, with fraud on March 12. Their alleged goal: to get their kids into top schools, including Yale and Stanford. The public reactions ranged from outrage to cynicism. The outrage: These parents think they can buy their kids anything. The cynicism: These parents could have done the same thing legally by “charitably” funding a new building or two. All this aside, the admissions scandal is an opportunity to separate the lofty mythology of college from the sordid reality. Despite the grand aspirations that students avow on their admission essays, their overriding goal is not enlightenment, but status.

[Honest Nigerian]

BitWielder1 wrote
But they pick an actress who plays wholesome roles, so they can say “Hey, you’re not so squeaky clean! Hah!”

---

I get your point, and I grieve that the prosecution of these abuse is oftentimes so selective. But the law should be uniformly enforced. Black or white. Tall or short. Rich or poor. Muslim or Jew.
Equal justice under the law.
(And please spare use the Hillary Clinton comments. We ALREADY know.)

[Cannoneer]

Corruption is inevitable when government money floods the schools. Remove ALL federal money from all schools except for the service academies and the schools will return to being what they are supposed to be. The market will take care of that.

Now you're talking.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Anyone who did not know this years ago was not paying attention.

Remember how Joe bought Teddy's way back into collage after he got tossed because his cheating was so blatant they could not ignore it?

It is not cynicism to know that the collages only care about having the money to indoctrinate little skulls full of mush.

What is jaw dropping is that people who should know better pushing and pay to get their children into these places. So they can make "contacts". Really? Theses are the kind of people you want your child making contacts with?

And I would like to know how many of my tax dollars were spent on pursuing this absolute heap of nothing by the federal government. If they have the time and money to do spend time on this there is no way they can not hunt down every single illegal alien in this country and toss them out on their keester.

That is their job, this was not.

It was something for the collages themselves to investigate and deal with if they gave a rip.

It was something an actual investigative reporter would have gone after.

Not a job for the federal government.

Oh, and another thing. Not a dollar of tax money should go to any collage. If the government wants to contract out to one of the collages to do research for them that is ok with major oversight. But pouring cash into their sports programs? The collages make a bundle off of sports.

And now I will get down off my soap box and go shelve some books.

[BitWielder1]

Not making excuses for the alleged crime, I was reacting to the selective coverage.

[central_va]

I listened the President of Hillsdale on the radio one day actually not that long ago. He was hitting every GOP talking point, immigration is great, Free trade, etc. etc. Made me take note.

[arthurus]

And ban public sector unions.

[JoeFromSidney]

Regarding languages. I went to a liberal arts college and majored in physics. I was required to study a foreign language. I chose French because so much of the scientific literature is written in French. Only once in my life did I actually read a scientific paper written FRench. Conversely, I have lived I both Thailand and Turkey. In each case I learned enough of the local language that I could read a newspaper. You never know whether l:earning a foreign language in college will be worth the effort.

[Slyfox]

The reason our Founders had to learn Latin well was because all of the scholastic books they read were in Latin, even the natural philosophy. It was the language of an educated mind.

Latin taught them to reason and to think. Their study actually revolved around the understanding of man in relation to God and the intense practice of understanding the definition of words and to be able to debate using those words, in Latin.

In the following century, German became the language of scientific mind. And French was long considered the language of diplomacy. A number of the Founders could understand and speak French.

[Slyfox]

Did you know Erma Bombeck when you went to UD?

[bgill]

Oh, no, the ones at my college were the angriest bunch ever. Wouldn’t speak to anyone. Would keep to themselves. Rarely showed up for class and, if they did, they refused to participate. Hardly ever saw them around campus. It was a small campus and I was involved in a lot and worked on campus so knew nearly everyone at least by sight, but not them.

[minnesota_bound]

The parents could have given the kids the money and told them to start a business.

[Cannoneer]

"LEGAL" immigration is great

Free, and "FAIR" trade is great too. Not sure your problem with either.

[central_va]

"LEGAL" immigration is great

The purpose of legal immigration is to flood the domestic labor market and to lower prevailing wages of American workers. It has not other purpose except to add the the Democrat voter roles. I think it a terrible thing, has been abused and needs to stop for many decades.

We run $850B trade deficits every year so I would put up an across the board 20% tariff and raise it 2% per year until the deficit is ZERO.

[Cannoneer]

That my friend sounds like a democrat line of reasoning. I think more democrat voters arrive illegally than legally.

[central_va]

Those green carders, when they do get citizenship, will vote almost always for a Democrat. This what’s wrong with the Republican Party you live in some kind of delusional Rovian dream state denying reality.

[Starboard]

The debt, entitlement and spending problems are growing in severity. You can be certain that the government in power (regardless of the party) will imposing crushing taxes on responsible and productive people. They want us (what’s left of the middle class) to pay for the illegals, their failure to control spending, and their love of big government.

Its only a matter of time before they start means testing social security. And that’s only the beginning.

They are backing us into a corner, which of course has been their plan for some time.

Those who create a mess never pay for it. They want to pass the cost and pain onto other people.

America has lost its way.

[JoeFromSidney]

I didn't attend UD. I worked there, in the Research Institute, after I retired from the Air Force. She was long gone by then.

[JoeFromSidney]

I didn't attend UD. I worked there, in the Research Institute, after I retired from the Air Force. She was long gone by then.

[JoeFromSidney]

Years ago, before the Iranian revolution, I taught an engineering course at a local university. I had a lot of Iranian students every semester. They were good students and did well in my classes. When the Iranian revolution happened, things changed. My students suddenly started looking for ways to stay in the U.S. instead of going home. They all figured they'd be shot if they returned. I have no idea what ever happened to them. I hope they survived.