It was an initial gut punch. It hits home, as my kids are getting older and the schooling situation seems to get more and more competitive. At times it seems pretty hopeless. And my kids are in elementary and middle schools. So, I have many years of angst before they are actually applying to college. Many years of reminding myself and my kids that you can get an education in any school as long as you want one and work hard. And that the same hard work, and not necessarily fancy name on a transcript, will ensure success in life. But now I find out that the system that I already thought was impossibly competitive and impossible to deal with is also rigged?!?! Ok, the initial feeling of a gut punch passes. Did we really not know that the system is rigged? Is it really that shocking that a few dozen people lack moral compass? I don’t think you have to be that cynical to admit that none of those things are really shocking. It seems to always be shocking when people of money, fame, and stature have fallen down so far from the pedestal we seem to hold them on. But, why? Being wealthy or successful in business or other endeavors does not guarantee or imply well working moral compass, higher decency or really any higher human attribute. After all, we have a guy who lied and cheated his way all the way to the White House. Why are we still feeling shocked and outraged?
Yes, I find it curious that if the parents were willing to expend significant resources and go to great lengths to cheat why they wouldn’t put the same resources and ingenuity to actually ensuring their children learned and performed in school, so they could get into colleges legitimately. I find it amusing how some have decided to portray the cheating parents as victims of our overzealous, over competitive culture who just wanted the best for their children and needed to be able to brag to their circle about where their child got into college. One article made some reference to parents discussing their children college choices in supermarkets, I tried hard imagining ex CEO of PIMCO and chairman of Willkie Farr having a chat in the frozen produce section about which ivy league school their kids are going to, but I digress. These justifications infuriate me possibly more than the acts themselves. Both seem to tell the rest of us that not only rich and privileged feel entitled to get their way at the expense of everyone else, but we should also respect and acknowledge that entitlement because, you know, they wanted best for their children. I find it absolutely laughable how much has been made of these “children” not knowing what was going on. My 8yo has pretty much figured out all there is to know about NYC gifted and talented program (and it’s not an easily understood system by far) despite my concerted efforts to not have it part of any conversation or discussion. I am calling complete bullshit on a 16 or 17 year old not figuring out what was going on when she was taken across country for a psych evaluation and then to take ACTs. And then, magically, that ACT, taken in an unfamiliar location across country from home, yields a score significantly higher than any other test before. These kids either knew or should have known that they were being used as pawns in their parents’ ambitions. And I’m guessing they were just as ok with stealing their spots in the universities as their parents. Why wouldn’t they feel entitled to leapfrog over everyone else? They were raised by people who think their opportunity to brag to their friends is more important than teaching their kids the value of hard work and merit.
But here is what is really troubling. The other news of the week is, planes falling out of the sky. There is yet to be an identified error in the design of said planes, but I am betting something is not right when a statistically rare event occurs in the span of 6 months and involves the same equipment. Aviation officials of a number of countries, including, now, US seem to agree. And here is the question, what if the Boeing engineers involved in the design of Boeing 737 Max bribed their way into college? Into graduate school? What if the doctor that will operate on me in the future, or worse yet, on my kids, had his parents pretend that he is a great athlete to get him into college or bribed someone to get him into medical school? And what if’s go on and on. I still believe (and that’s a total optimist in me speaking here) that someone truly talented and hard working will always have doors open for them no matter the name on that diploma. But for others the name on the diploma will open doors even when they do not possess the talent, or the tenacity, or just plain smarts. And that open door could lead to a lot of places that really matter, to a lot of places where people’s lives could be at stake. And if the person walking through that door got there by bribing, and cheating, and generally disrespecting everyone else’s right to be taken as equal and to a fair shake, I don’t think those lives will matter to that person. And that is what really terrifies me.