The college admissions cheating scandal uncovered recently is a prime example of how entitled Americans think and act when they desire a particular objective. The special educational benefits their money provided were not enough of an advantage for these parents who wanted to be certain their children would be admitted to elite colleges. Thus, bending or breaking the rules, lying and cheating on admissions data, was considered to be in bounds for them. What terrible role models these parents were, showing their children that lying and cheating to get ahead in life was permissible if one is rich or powerful.
As the Boston Globe reported, “Parents stopped at nothing to get their kids in the ‘side door at top schools.” For decades, entitled mothers and fathers who were affluent enough sent their children to private schools, provided their children with music lessons to master instruments, had them join sports teams and paid for extra instruction, had them tutored in weak school subjects, had special training for them to take the SATs or ACTs, had them coached on admissions essays, all done to try and help them gain entrance to the best colleges. There was nothing illegal or unethical about this conduct and it definitely gave their children a leg up over other college applicants whose parents could not afford these efforts.
Those parents who were extremely wealthy might go even further to increase their children’s chances of admission. They might make a donation to the university of their choice of millions of dollars, perhaps even funding a special project or a building to help their children gain acceptance to the school. Legal, yes. Ethical, maybe. Besides aiding their children, it also increased the university’s endowment or physical facilities and perhaps as well it furnished scholarships for less fortunate students who could not afford the tuition or fees. Rumors have it that Donald Trump’s father Fred, paid the University of Pennsylvania to allow Donald to transfer from Fordham to the Wharton School, as Trump’s grades were questionable. (Perhaps that’s why entitled Donald has threatened to sue any institution that releases his grades or SAT scores to the public.) The father of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son in law and chief adviser, also apparently donated $2.5 million to Harvard to aid in his son’s admission. (His high school administrators and classmates have said that it was unimaginable that Jared could have gotten into Harvard on his merits, including his GPA and SAT scores.)
Unfortunately, the behavior noted perpetuates inequality and entitlement in a number of ways. The students admitted to these elite schools often think they are special even though it was their parents’ endeavors that pushed them over the top. Then once in, these students may profit from the education they receive, giving them another step up in life. There are also all the connections they make with classmates, other students and alumni that can help them find the right jobs. Or their credentials may help them get accepted at the best graduate schools. Thus, aside from the contacts their parents have and the money these children may inherit, they have opportunities after they graduate to be successful because of all the advantages they have been handed. Though there were and are progressive groups that have complained about this situation, these practices continued because they benefited the schools.
But in spite of the methods they used to get their progeny admitted to top colleges, many entitled parents were still not satisfied, believing their children might still not be accepted. To guarantee admission, parents were willing to go to any lengths, unconcerned about the legality, morality, or ethics of the actions they were taking. They signed up with services that claimed they could secure admission for their sons and daughters to the schools of their choice. Fifty people were charged initially by authorities in this college scam, but it is believed that hundreds more parents may be involved.
The originator of the plan was a California lawyer, William Singer, the founder of a college preparatory service, the Edge College and Career Network. Singer collected $25 million from parents between 2011 and 2018 to bribe college athletic coaches to facilitate students’ admissions. Coaches of less-featured college teams like sailing, tennis, volleyball, water polo, crew, and women’s soccer, were given hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in bribes to ask the admissions officers to admit certain students for their teams. These students were not athletes and not proficient in the sports for which they supposedly were being recruited. But this was not known by the admissions officers who would admit them with lower academic credentials. Fake athletic profiles of the applicants were fabricated by the initiators of the schemes, providing them with illusory honors in sports in which they had not competed, submitted to the colleges along with the students’ applications. Subsequently, none of these students ever played a minute on any of the colleges’ sports teams. Institutions involved included the University of Southern California, Stamford, Georgetown, UCLA, Yale, Wake Forest, Texas, among others.
Other schemes were used to raise the favored applicants’ SAT or ACT scores. Sometimes, more advanced students took the tests, substituting for the actual applicants. In another scam, psychologists would attest to the student having a learning disability and needing more time to complete the test. This would necessitate the student taking the test alone with his or her personal proctor. This person had usually been bribed by Singer or one of his associates to help the student with the test, even to the point of providing him or her with the correct answers. At times, Singer also faked the student’s ethnicity to take advantage of affirmative action programs.
When the scandal was uncovered in March of 2019, a number of college coaches who had played a role were fired. Singer pled guilty to money laundering, racketeering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and obstruction of justice. The entitled parents who participated in the scheme and were charged in the case included Hollywood celebrities, sports stars, famous actors and actresses, designers, prominent businessmen and corporate executives. Money was no object and there were no qualms about their deceptive actions. In addition to their children gaining undeserved entry to these schools, they occupied spots that should have gone to more qualified students.
Why did these rich, entitled parents feel a need to lie and cheat to promote their childrens’ admission into elite colleges? Psychologists who have studied this problem believe that rich parents are more likely to act in an unethical manner without feelings of guilt or remorse. Affluent people are often willing to take great risks to maintain what they perceive as their higher status, goaded by their sense of entitlement. They view their children’s success partly as their own and indicative of how others might see them. Parents’ self-esteem can be tied to how their children do in school and in life. They rationalize that being privileged and wealthy makes them and their children deserving of a certain place in the world, and that breaking the rules or cheating a bit is acceptable because it is not going to hurt anyone else.
The college admission scandal described above is merely one illustration of the entitled conduct of some affluent men and women and the degree of inequality that festers in American society. There are numerous other examples that could be cited of the way privileged individuals take advantage of their status to be treated in a special manner. For the most part, the paths they take are not illegal, but eased by their wealth and power. The problem is not that others may be less fortunate and left behind, but that many of these other Americans are lacking in the necessities of life that some of those entitled have in excess.
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020