College Scandal
A cranky opinion for
Cranky Opinion Saturday
The following is the opinion of a
cranky old man with no expertise on the topic opined. Opposing opinions are welcome, but they are
wrong. As always, no name calling, and
that means you, you big stupid-head!
This Cranky
opinion Saturday thing is difficult when you can’t post on politics. Well you can post on politics, but if you
post wrong you will be excoriated. Apparently,
these days you can only express acceptable positions. If you are not sure if your position is acceptable or not...it is not.
Finally there is something in the news where I think I can safely voice an opinion.
Rich people paying to get their
children into the best colleges.
There is
clearly only one acceptable position to take on this…rich people suck.
Actually,
rich people don’t suck, rich people that care about status suck. These parents paying zillions of dollars to
get their children in the “Best” schools, suck.
The thing
that gets me, is, dollars to donuts, most of these kids could probably get into
very good schools, but that is not good enough for the rich. Only the best will do.
I’ve known
some of these parents. From preschool
and kindergarten, they hire tutors so their precious budding geniuses will be
accepted to “Gifted and Talented” classes.
Then they help with homework all through school. If precious does not get great grades they
badger the teachers…oh yes, they do, I’ve talked to teachers!
Precious
then takes “advanced courses” because these days a 4.0 cumulative average is no
longer perfect, the best schools demand better than perfect, and advanced
courses can do that. It’s like bowling a
300 (perfect) game is not good enough, they give extra credit for style.
Anyway.
After
getting into “Gifted and Talented” and taking advanced courses the little
darlings need high SAT scores to get into the prestigious schools, so parents
pay big money for special tutoring to “Ace” the SAT’s. Sometimes they even pay big money for someone
else to take the test.
If none of
this is good enough, these parents apparently will just buy their little darlings’
way into the best schools.
The best way
to do that apparently is giving money to coaches. Coaches can get almost anyone into school is
if they want them on their team...after all, what is more important to a college program then winning at sports?
The stories
that I find the most amusing are the children getting into school due to their
rowing skills.
Hell, if I
was a rowing coach, I might take a few Hundred thousand dollars to get some
rich kid into school. How much can a
rowing coach make?
I would love
to hear how these coaches get these little rich bastards (many are actual
bastards) into Hoity-Toity State. How do
they pitch the admissions professionals?
“I need this kid, she is a great
rower.”
“How did she do on her High School
team?”
“How do I know, there are no rowing
teams in High School…Hell, half of the High Schools in the country are not even
near water big enough to row on.”
“How do you know she is a great
rower?”
“Well, she has been on the water, and
her parents own a yacht!”
“That doesn’t seem like enough to
me.”
“What if I told you I could get you
25 grand if she is accepted?”
“Hmmm…could you give her a megaphone
and teach her to yell ‘Stroke, stroke’?”
“Absolutely, she yells great.”
“Well then, she is in!”
The thing
about college is, a good school will help you get a good job, but about one
week into the job, no one gives a crap where you went to school. If you went to Harvard, but suck on the job,
sucking caries far more weight than Harvard.
At least
that is how it used to be. Now I guess
if your parents are willing to fund you beyond college, they can buy your way
up the corporate ladder.
Or better
yet, if your parents have that much money, who needs to work? These parents are proud to support a
worthless do-nothing piece of crap kid…as long as they have a degree from a top
school that they can brag about.
The preceding was the opinion of a
cranky old man and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky.
Then there is the flip side. The pressure to get into a "good" school because it will help you land a "good" job is widely propagandized. I wonder by who exactly. And the kids whose parents can't afford the good school go anyway and is in debt for the rest of their lives and even if they land that good job they will be paying student loans for the best part of their lives. I guess I'm a little Saturday cranky too.
ReplyDelete-- If precious does not get great grades they badger the teachers…oh yes, they do, I’ve talked to teachers!
ReplyDeleteAs a retired teacher, a big yes confirming this. And, as I was informed, getting into a big league university is not about getting an education but about getting a store of contacts for later in life. Exhibit A: recent Supreme Court confirmation hearing. (Feel free to delete if that is too political, but I do think it is an illustration of the point a parent was making to me.)
These people make me sick. I watch my own kids busting their asses paying their own way and stories like this just make my blood boil. Those rowing team parents are the same parents giving interviews about how God gets them thru. Ugh. These parents should have to pay real tuition for kids who ARE smart enough to get in but can't afford to.
ReplyDeleteYou pretty much said it all for me. I am horrified by the cheating parents. It seems the most common expression I utter each day is, "What is wrong with people?"
ReplyDeleteAlthough I felt as infuriated as anyone else, it seems that these have been caught ~ this has been going on for a very long time. We just hadn't heard it on the news.....
ReplyDeleteFrom The Atlantic by Alana Semuels:
The idea that an unequal society allows the wealthy to dictate policies that help themselves has very troubling implications in a country that just elected a president who seems focused on putting the wealthy in charge. The wealthy have benefited from the system that has helped create their wealth: the private schools, the elite colleges, and the growing salaries for those at the top. And they have little incentive to change it.
I had not even thought of that angle...of course this whole thing is the fault of our President.
DeleteLOL! My husband and I always add, "Thanks, Trump!" to every news story now. Because no one did anything criminal before he became president!!!!
DeleteI was actually surprised that two Mom's were the ones who were called out the most, but maybe it was because they are famous? I guess I'm prejudiced because it seems like a Dad would do this moreso than someone's Mom.
I was a bit surprised by this latest scandal. Anyway, I think if I could have I would have paid to get my kids a degree in carpentry, electrician school, plumber, roofer, car mechanic. I mean, seriously, college graduates are a dime a dozen but where's a decent plumber when you need one?! My car repair bills make me cringe and when we had a flood due to a leaky pipe I was shocked when the guy that fixed it was probably 92yrs. old. Same age as the plumber who put in a new tub faucet for us. Forget Harvard kids..go to a good trade school! (then call me, I have a few jobs for you!)
ReplyDeleteI guess now my boys will understand why their grades and test scores didn't seem to matter. Money makes the world go round.
ReplyDeleteI had a student whose mother and her parents were wealthy, really rich. His older brother was studying to be a doctor. He had a "tutor" who basically took the classes for him. My student was a 6th grader, couldn't do math, could barely write. His tutor wrote really nice papers for him. When I asked my student what some words meant, he didn't have a clue. What happened next?
ReplyDeleteStudies show you don't get better jobs just because you went to a top school. This is all about prestige and bragging rights, and it is sad and sickening.
ReplyDeleteThis one bothers me on a level that goes deep.
ReplyDeleteIt bothers me a lot too, but apparently it's been going on far longer than I knew about.
ReplyDeleteMy own kids were smart and could have done well in college, but three of them chose to not finish high school and went out working instead. They knew I couldn't afford college, had to seriously cut back the budget just to afford high school uniforms. The fourth did finish high school, then got himself a job at the same place his father had just quit from. Even if I'd had the money, I don't think I would have bought places for my kids in any college.
The funny thing with this scandal is that the daughter is so upset about her parents ruining her life for what they did to get her into college, something she didn't even want to do in the first place and was perfectly happy with her career as an "influencer." Sad thing is this will always be part of all of their lives no matter how many years go by and what other accomplishments the daughter is able to do. Sometimes it is good not to have a lot of money.
ReplyDeletebetty
I just hope these spoiled rich kids don't end up being engineers designing bridges or surgeons...
ReplyDelete