About that college entrance exam scam

Cheaters prosper. Cheaters win. Some do get caught and are held accountable. Some never are, in this life at least.

This is the way of things.

This story amuses me immensely.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-accuses-wealthy-parents-including-celebrities-in-college-entrance-bribery-scheme/2019/03/12/d91c9942-44d1-11e9-8aab-95b8d80a1e4f_story.html

I have ZERO issue with cheating on college entrance exams. None. College will weed out the vast majority of the ones who can't hack it.

I think college entrance exams are pretty stupid anyway. For one thing, some people simply don't do well on standardized tests. For another, standardized tests are also stupid. And yet one more thing, college is not mandatory. If you really want to go to college, you will make it happen. Guaranteed.

A very select few will manage to scrape through, thanks to parents with wallets bigger'n that gator killed on Lake Blackshear.

A MINOR PROBLEM

I only have a slight problem with the people who manage to graduate from college by underhanded means.

In the real world, most of the people who cheat their way through college will seriously crash&burn when they get a job. Darwin at work. Those who do continue to roll their way up the corporate ladder through cheating, obfuscation, misdirection and slight-of-hand have to be smart enough to be there anyway.

I am not excusing their malfeasance. I am saying if they can get away with it, then they are good enough to be there anyway.

My small problem with those who make it through runs right back to academia. Those who do work their way through but cannot get a real job fall back into academia. I ain't saying those who can, do and those who can't teach. I know many teachers at all levels who are thoroughly capable of making a living in the private sector. Some of them taught me and they were the best teachers I had.

I also know too many teachers who are in education because they cannot hold down a job outside of academia. Inside those hollow (no typo) halls of learning, they are insulated and protected. They need not be able to do. They just need a sufficiently advanced degree, which is laughably easy to obtain. Google this phrase - easy to get PhD .

Had plenty of those teachers too. They are not worthless. They are a great bad example.

Proof? Real world experience is not necessary to get a job as a professional instructor. All ya need is a degree. Show me any job qualification list for a professional educator that requires real-world experience in that field. I'll show you a dozen that only demand teaching experience and a degree.

Which is harder? Getting into college or getting a PhD? Depends on how good you are or how much money you have. The more money you have, the less your ability matters.

MONEY TALKS

People have bought their way into college for as long as college has been a thing. Lemme tell you right now that if I won a giant lottery, I'd buy admission for my kids, nieces and nephews to the college of their choice. No college will turn down a few million dollars and "oh yeah, make sure my nephew's application to attend school here is accepted or I find another college that wants the money." Proof follows.

People also get into college strictly on physical ability. Academics are irrelevant.

https://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/us/ncaa-athletes-reading-scores/index.html

http://time.com/3827196/why-student-athletes-fail/

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/yp8bvj/north-carolina-scandal-continues-to-show-how-ncaa-incentivizes-eligibility-over-education

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/heres-two-more-times-the-ncaa-is-failing-to-rule-sensibly-on-players-academic-issues/

Plenty more where that came from.

DOUBLE DOUBLE DOUBLE STANDARDS

Boston’s U.S. attorney, Andrew Lelling told reporters, "These parents are a catalogue of wealth and privilege. This case is about the widening corruption of elite college admissions through the steady application of wealth combined with fraud. There can be no separate college admission system for the wealthy, and I’ll add there will not be a separate criminal justice system, either.”

I do not like calling someone a liar, but yeah, he's a liar.

His statement is a direct contradiction to reality. He make not like reality. Reality is under no obligation to conform itself to the expectations of him, you, me or that guy stalking you who just ducked around the corner so you wouldn't catch him.

If the truth hurts, yer living wrong.

There is a separate admission system for the wealthy. It's called money.

https://www.ajc.com/blog/get-schooled/college-admissions-and-financial-aid-rich-kids-win-again/uTYGrlpxhSYeiDLAaOamKP/

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/jared-kusher-college-admissions-story-shady-but-legal.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/03/richer-parents-are-the-problem-with-admissions-not-affirmative-action.html

How many more links do you want to prove the point?

There is a separate criminal justice. It's called money.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5156/99b3bacf2a82ff98522675ccb3ec0ea16d6d.pdf

https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/14/17114226/incarceration-family-income-parents-study-brookings-rich-kid-poor-kid

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article174707216.html

Again, how much more proof do you need?

Cheating to get into college? Hilarious. Knock yo'self out and make it happen. Eventually, you must have the ability to make it. Otherwise, you will have to get a PhD and teach in a college.