Well, they might be mad that in this case because the bribe went to an employee and not into the endowment slush fund for football stadiums, where it is supposed to go (and also because they took took such small bribes, gotta have high standards!).
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Yep. I used to work in the admissions office of private, expensive mid-level school in SoCal. (I jokingly call it a Conservative Arts university)
This was in the 90s and things were still fairly manual, so I doubt they even use files/folders anymore, but IIRC there were 3 colors for folders: 1 for the masses, another for a religious affiliation of the university, and a 3rd for VIPs. VIPS were typically celebrity related, a person that a mucky muck may have asked us to look out for, or people who a cursory search on Netscape (ha!) turned out to be people of significant means.
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I’ve been wondering that myself.
If they knew, they should be tossed out on their asses. It’s a clear violation of ethics.
But if they didn’t, I kinda feel sorry for them. Shady means were used to gain admission, but once they’re in, they still have to do the work.
And now they’ll be walking into class knowing that everyone else in the room knows that they didn’t get in on their own merits. Even if they have been getting decent grades, people will still think that they’re getting a degree handed to them.
When Pope’s needed some more money, they would sell a few more red hats (rich parents would pay to have their idiot kid made into a Cardinal).
This is how the Reformation began. By protesting such practices, i.e. Protestant.
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If anything it will just cause the wealthy to come up with alternate ways to rig things in their favor, its how these things inevitably go. Also who is to say these rich folk can’t just do the same thing… but abroad. There’s many other places they can drop cash at and get their spoiled kids at a privileged place.
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I met a French professor from Penn. They said that the president of the school called them personally to pressure her to make sure Tiffany Trump passed French. Fortunately, they could not help, since they had to travel. I’m sure someone else got the job.
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I recall a story from way back. About how Geraldo Rivera – as a law student – would take other students’ exams for a set price based on what grade they required. An “A” would cost more than a “B”. He would study for each exam the night before, then…
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Or they’ll just be in showbiz and not have any power whatsoever.
Periodic reminder that the current President of the United States is a former reality TV show host.
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Except see my post about Tiffany Trump. They will get a lot more help, pushed along by the administration. They won’t have to hold down jobs while going to school. Of course there are no “level playing fields” anywhere, but these people have fewer obstacles.
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As far as I know, it never existed in the first place, and is a later invention.
Nothing comes of this.
I have to wonder if this will undermine the sham of pretending there’s a meritocracy, or if the uncovering of this scandal will reinforce it, instead. “Well, the cheating has stopped, so everyone who’s there deserves to be!”
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American Post-Secondary Education is in desperate, desperate need of reform. Modest proposal? Make all schools State Schools. Set tuition at an affordable maximum for all schools, and enforce it. The fact that Harvard charges what it does for an education is unconscionable, and the degree is the degree; the ‘Harvard’ part is like paying $200 more for a t-shirt because it’s got a logo on it.
Private Schools of any kind are disgusting, but private Universities are especially vomitous. Regulate them out of existence. nationalize and sue the resisters. And nonsense like this will disappear because it won’t need to happen
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As a graduate of a small, politically progressive but religiously-affiliated liberal arts college: NO.
(ETA: Unless what you’re really saying is “socialize all the things!” in which case, maybe yes?)
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Awaiting the meme, unless it’s already started.
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It’s not entirely a bad plan, at least in the more affordable colleges and universities part. Currently not a great example considering what’s going on but… Venezuela (where i was raised) had typically had a really high education standard because there best higher education schools were public universities which were very cheap or free. Every state had at least one major public university with a very good reputation. Because of this schools felt the pressure to ensure that every student had a decent shot at being able to be accepted, so the quality of education was higher across the board. The metric for success wasn’t passing some pre-requisite test but how many students were successful in getting into universities/colleges at the end of their schooling.
Here in the US i don’t think that pressure for ensuring good education translates to success in getting into higher education is all there. And if someone did have the brains to get into a good school they still have to contend with high tuition, if the best local college was free you bet that people would bust their ass to get in it. The last decade or so it seems the general consensus is that college is a waste of time and money. And the goal for schools here is mostly to just pass whatever test the government is requiring.
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Don’t feel sad. Rich folks take care of rich folks. These kids will be coddled all through their careers and given cushy jobs that a squirrel with rabies could do, and then lauded for how they are “self made.”
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We could reuse some of the terms from the many books written about these scenarios (mostly involving misuse of tutoring and test-prep services):
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