In Search of the American Dream Being Black and Woman
February 15, 2019
Every Qualified Student Deserves An Equal Opportunity For Admission
March 21, 2019Cheating To Be Admitted to Prestigious Colleges and Universities
Where is the outrage for cheating to be admitted to prestigious colleges and universities by those who are privileged—the rich and famous? Where is the moral outcry against those rich and famous parents who paid to get their sons and daughters admitted to some of the nation’s most coveted higher institutions of learning?
Those schools include, Yale, Georgetown, the University of Southern California, and Stanford, to name a few. How many other lesser known schools are also involved? The recent revelation is typical of how many scandals get public attention, mainly when they involve someone rich or famous.
But the scandal likely includes parents who are not so famous, but relatively rich. The media splash about cheating to be admitted to prestigious colleges and universities is probably just the tip of a large and destructive iceberg.
Cheating to be admitted to prestigious colleges and universities is destructive in so many ways. First, what message do you send your child when you pay thousands of dollars to have someone take their college admission exams? What do you tell your child when you lie about their athletic achievements? Are those parents saying lying, cheating, and committing crimes are okay?
Cheating To Be Admitted to Prestigious Colleges and Universities
Photo Credit: presscollegeboard.org
Disrespect for the rule of law, moral integrity, and special privilege for the rich and powerful seems to transcend politics, business. Higher education, a prized part of the American experience, has been highly regarded across generations as the gateway to equal opportunity. But, now it is tainted by the revelation of broad spread cheating to be admitted to prestigious colleges and universities.
These are children whose parents could have paid for their college education. These are children who had access to and attended great public and private secondary schools. Why did their parents have to cheat, commit crimes, to get them into the nation’s best schools?
What messages does this cheating and criminal behavior send to those hard-working students who deserve to be admitted to those schools, but are not?
Feature Photo Credit: Ngampol Thongsai
16 Comments
It is such a pity the length in which some parents go in securing certain positions for their children. The funny thing is that some of these children are aware of such steps their parents took and this in turn may affect them negatively in future. As for students who are hard working but don’t get the opportunity of being admitted, they should have a voice and cry out against such injustice.
The world is full of surprises and everyone thinks that by cheating, one will succeed. I do blame parents who teach such things to their children.
In the long run, students who cheated their admissions on prestigious Universities will just suffer because they won’t be able to cope with the schools’ standards. I think that these prestigious universities should not allow cheating because their reputation will suffer too.
Sometimes I don’t even know who we should blame for all these negative issues. We are all in this mess together and we just have to start a change and it should be now.
The seem to be decadence in all spheres of life. When once one have a little money the next thing is to think how to oppress the next person. Very bad moves for everybody.
This is a no for me. Call me old fashion but you learn to value things by putting effort.I see cheating as a cop out and I believe in the notion that things got through cheating does not last long. If you have time to cheat then use it to study.
The Moral decadence in our society has pushed us to loose the basic tenets of intergrity..Cheating to be admitted to a prestigous colleges and universities should be greatly discouraged as these are the same breed of students that turn out to plagiarise academic work because all they thrive is in buying their way out of every situation,thus zero professionalism.
It really appalling what parents are teaching their children. It makes the children think that it really a normal thing to cheat someone have to just fight this.
Any form of cheating is considered wrong. This can’t be happening to today’s generation.
This thing must be treated as a crime. Cheating can lead to doing something worst.
I believe cheating should never be tolerated. Cheating will not just bring your hopes up in the future, it may also lead you to failure because I strongly believe that cheating to get something you want is never worth it nor you truly deserves it.
It seems like it’s no secret that money and fame can smooth out almost everything you want. And it is indeed heartbreaking to know that a fact like this is still happening continuously.
I’m glad you bring this issue up. It’s very disheartening that students would go as far as cheating admissions. It’s offensive to the people who worked hard to get accepted and even more outrageous to the ones in need of a full scholarship. This epidemic takes up valuable space at every school and needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
Its so sad that the rich can easily commit a crime and get away with it without much effort or being criticized. But when the poor commit the same crime they become the talk of the town. The same case that happens in politics is also happening in admission to prestigious universities.
Cheating is one of the biggest issues faced during college and highschool that should be prohibited and avoided. One great solution will be one and one talk with parents and parents need to talk to their children.
I love the way you point out societal ills..Parents paying someone to write an examination for their wards is just a bummer.. government and the relevant stakeholders need to look into this..