Posted on 03/16/2019 4:33:31 AM PDT by Kaslin
The massive college admissions scam - where rich and famous people in California are being charged with cheating and paying bribes to get their kids into top colleges - is only the tip of what is said to be a really dirty iceberg.
And so far, President Trump is not being blamed for it by CNN.
But the admissions scandal tells us a lot about what's wrong with some of today's "elite" parents - and their spoiled kids.
Many wealthy moms, dads and partners think that unless their kids are accepted to a top school like Yale, Stanford or the University of Southern California, their kids will turn out to be losers or pieces of dirt.
They often pressure their kids: "You've got to go to college - and you have to go to this college."
The rich parents and TV stars being charged so far in the admissions scam apparently went the extra mile to make sure their kids got into the best school: they cheated their fat wallets off.
Dozens of parents paid between $15,000 and $75,000 to hire a college admissions prep company run by a crook who arranged for someone to take the college boards for their dumb kids.
Other parents paid huge sums that were used to bribe coaches at nine top schools to accept their kids as recruits to their athletic teams despite their nonexistent credentials.
Here in La-La Land, the actress Lori Loughlin, who played Aunt Becky on "Full House," and her husband allegedly agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 to have their two daughters designated as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team.
For good measure, they sent in photos of the girls sitting on rowing machines. Trouble was, the only boat the kids were actually qualified to be on was the family yacht.
What the cheating parents of California did was not just criminal. It was also stupid parenting.
Buying their kids spots at Yale or USC might make sense if the kids already are geniuses, super talented in a sport or know exactly what they want to be in life - a computer software engineer, a neurosurgeon, a rocket scientist.
But in the vast number of cases, where 18-year-olds have no clue why they are going off to college, it wouldn't matter what school their parents sent them to.
It's not the "YALE" on junior's jacket or the "USC" on missy's sweatshirt that is going to determine how their lives turn out.
It's about who the kid is inside. And what he or she is going to become in life depends on how well they were raised and if they do the right things in college.
If they study, if they learn, if they are serious, if they don't blow their own or their parents' money by taking Mickey Mouse courses, they can get whatever they'll need for a successful start in life at a smaller private college like Creighton or a giant university like Arizona State.
You never know, some kid could study economics at some tiny private, non-profit Christian liberal arts college in Illinois and become president someday.
Which is what my father did.
He studied at Eureka College, then read books and kept learning his entire life.
He didn't have to go to Harvard or Yale with the Bushes, Kennedys and Clintons to become a success because his success was all about himself and his character.
Speaking of character, those substandard rich kids who benefited from the admissions scam are as guilty as their cheating parents. Not legally, obviously, but morally.
They received stolen goods - prestigious college educations that otherwise would have gone to others who were academically or athletically qualified.
To say they didn't know what was going on is idiotic. They were silent partners in their parents' crimes.
And getting tossed out of their schools ASAP, which they deserve, might actually teach them an important lesson about right and wrong that their cheating parents never could.
Like with sandmann, I am hoping that with this college scam brings about heavy law suits from the parents of students who were passed up. Cant help but to think this was a plan to shut down the communist socialist radical liberal progressive propaganda re education centers in America
-—— wealthy moms, dads and partners.....
There you have it....... queers can’t be excluded from anything.
There should be no more posting of M Regan articles
Many people have filed a class action suit against Huffman and Loughlin totally $500 Billion with a “B”.
If this is what Californians do to get their kids into college, imagine what they would do to win an election.
She misses the point. It wasn’t about getting educated. It was getting the status that being accepted by one of these schools.
I understand the crimes involved here, but I’ve been surprised by the amount of news coverage this is getting. Seems to me that this is the kind of story the lib media wouldn’t normally touch.
Affirmative action also steals education from more qualifying kids with brains. Don’t see liberal complaining about that.
Not that I agree with what these jerks did.
Yes, it is about prestige but I think it is even more about connections. These schools are the incubators of the ruling class. They control who gets plum internships, Supreme Court clerkships, appointments to government and private industry powerhouses, membership in private clubs, boards of directors, and more. The alumni take care of its own and the current system is self-perpetuating. Until that stranglehold on power is broken, even dumb kids in the ivy league have a lot better chance to succeed than brilliant students at other schools and more incentive to cheat.
Yep. Graduates leave with the knowledge of how to navigate the world of the elite, skills that can never be taught at lower-tier schools no matter who the professors are.
I can see huge lawsuits against many universities where famous and rich kids got in due to fame and money and deserving kids were passed over.
1. They have to prove that they would have been admitted to a given school were it not for the actions of those who orchestrated this bribery charade. The case would end as soon as an admission officer in a deposition looks at the plaintiff's college application and says: "This person wasn't even in the top 50% of our prospective enrollees."
2. The plaintiffs then have to prove that they suffered harm as a result of the bribery scandal. Demonstrating harm through a failure to get admitted to a single college out of hundreds of potential colleges isn't an easy case to make.
3. Even if a plaintiff is successful in Items #1 and #2, the plaintiff then has to quantify the harm. That will be damn near impossible. Under a highly unlikely scenario where one of these cases goes to trial, the defendants would simply present a litany of highly successful Americans -- including (I suspect) most CEOs of large U.S. companies -- who went to second-tier colleges ... or even didn't go to college at all (like Bill Gates).
It’s getting all this news coverage because they’re trying to diminish the exposure given to the damaging revelations coming out this week about the DOJ/FBI and their attempt to rig the 2016 election.
The two actresses apparently were the media draws, but plenty of parents (and coaches) were named from the East Coast as well.
I suspect communications by admissions offices might solve that first problem.
As for the second, I doubt the unis involved are going to suggest your life won’t suck if you fail to be admitted. If they argue otherwise, why pay the insanely overpriced tuition.
And as for harm, peanuts for compensatory and sky-high for punitive.
“For good measure, they sent in photos of the girls sitting on rowing machines”
Further evidence these two nitwit spoiled brats were in on the farce from the start and should be charged with something.
yes but...... how ‘bout an affirmative action african american that was displaced by a bribing admittee? The AAAA lawsuit will be paid to go away
At least it was all tax deductible. These people are strong believers in paying their fair share.
I don't know if I could agree more with what you stated but I will give it an honest effort! Of course these children were in on the whole plan. They had to be for it to work.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.