College Admissions Scandal - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#14994960
This has been a major scandal in America for awhile now. Major colleges, like Ivy League Schools (Harvard, Yale) and big west coast schools like USC have been implicated in a pay-for-admissions scandal.

My take is, you have these rich white parents teaching their kids about white privilege but then they pay for privileges and only the poorer white people who can't do that get passed up in admissions so that a less academically accomplished brown kid can get into the school, meaning that white privilege is only a problem for a white person if they're not rich. Not surprising at all.

The fairest thing I can say about this is that college is usually worthless these days anyway.
#14994977
I read about this.

Photoshopping faces onto other athletes bodies. How very modern.
#14994981
A broad view of college admissions revolves, I would think, upon how one views the mission of higher education. To serve the cream of the intellectual crop is one position. To address imbalances between specific categories within our society is another. These two goals, as a first rough cut, are antagonistic.
#14995006
The mistake the parents made was going to a third party and not calling up the school directly to say, "I'd like to make a large contribution also, completely unrelated, my idiot child is applying to colleges this year."

Hong Wu wrote:The fairest thing I can say about this is that college is usually worthless these days anyway.


Someone will never get over not passing the bar.

My take is, you have these rich white parents teaching their kids about white privilege but then they pay for privileges and only the poorer white people who can't do that get passed up in admissions so that a less academically accomplished brown kid can get into the school, meaning that white privilege is only a problem for a white person if they're not rich.


It's a stupid take that you put zero effort or thought into.
#14995011
Hong Wu wrote:The fairest thing I can say about this is that college is usually worthless these days anyway.

This is sour grapes.

The reason that "college is worthless" to many young people is because they can't afford to go to college and live comfortably afterwards. The rules of financing have been rigged to ensure the rich have a major upper hand on understanding "how things work."

And understanding "how things work" means that masses of normal people have to have the means to study sociology, politics, history, theology, psychology and other fields that do not land you a job at a bank or engineering firm.

When university is priced in the stratosphere like it is in the USA, common ordinary people start saying "sour grapes" because, after all, **a BA in History won't pay for a new SUV so you can drive from your bungalow on farmland to a cubicle every day to pay for it**.

This is how sour grapes is being used (by you and many others) to accept the narrowing of the American mind.
#14995603
Sidestepping ad hominem posts and getting back to the topic of college admission, there's yet another frame of reference for discussion.

Let's start with some 'givens'. The number of college seats available in the US is finite. The number of applicants for these seats exceeds the availability. And one more: colleges should try to pick applicants who will be able to complete a 4 years of study and graduate.

So far, so good. Now try this as a concept. A student from a wealthy family has a social status which gives him/her a better 'shot' at life than one who does not. Thus, a college degree means less, in terms of a life advantage, than it would to one who is not from a wealthy family. Other criteria can also be cited.

Is there not, than, a case to be made for trying, within the restriction that an applicant must have a good chance to complete the course of study, for selecting those for whom the education would make the biggest difference in their lives? In other words, the biggest bang for the buck [Ed.: Or student.]
#14995605
Sooo, you’re saying rich people basically robbed poorer people of educations? I dunno. The opportunity to get an education in a competitive market should be available to all. Being educated endows you with knowledge and the ability to keep learning.

The parents in question have done the wrong thing and no doubt will pay the price.
#14995665
Torus34 wrote:Let's start with some 'givens'. The number of college seats available in the US is finite.

Why is this a given?

The USA is one of the wealthiest countries in human history, and other countries manage to provide free education to a much larger percentage of the population, at a much higher level.

Other countries invest much more per capita in global education, K-12 and post-secondary.

So by accepting the unnaturally-limited (by capital) number of college seats available, you have allowed the rich to screw everyone out of having a better educated community and nation.
#14995877
Torus34 wrote:Sidestepping ad hominem posts and getting back to the topic of college admission, there's yet another frame of reference for discussion.

Let's start with some 'givens'. The number of college seats available in the US is finite. The number of applicants for these seats exceeds the availability. And one more: colleges should try to pick applicants who will be able to complete a 4 years of study and graduate.

So far, so good. Now try this as a concept. A student from a wealthy family has a social status which gives him/her a better 'shot' at life than one who does not. Thus, a college degree means less, in terms of a life advantage, than it would to one who is not from a wealthy family. Other criteria can also be cited.

Is there not, than, a case to be made for trying, within the restriction that an applicant must have a good chance to complete the course of study, for selecting those for whom the education would make the biggest difference in their lives? In other words, the biggest bang for the buck [Ed.: Or student.]

You are halfway towards being accused of alt-right racism here, since this is very close to suggesting that affirmative action should be based off of wealth and not upon race, an idea that the left has largely rejected because it would result in promoting lower-class whites and East Asian immigrants in terms of college admissions. Of course, the usual suspects for affirmative action (typically, blacks and Mexicans) would also get a jump but the difference in numbers would mess with racism narratives.

Begone, racist :eek:
#14995886
Everything is racist these days. Way to disempower a word :roll:
#14995898
Image

It's a valid strategy in most fighting sports to let your opponent exhaust himself by attacking, especially if you notice that he isn't breathing well, then after withstanding his attacks you start your knock-out combo.

We're going to need some new leftism by the time this is all over.
#14995936
Torus34 wrote:QatzelOK: All right, sir. Have it your way. The number of college seats available in the US is infinite.

Regards.

When you talk about "college education," what you are really describing is "people talking to one another."

That is the basis of all education. So this really is infinite, in the sense that ALL of our awake free time could be dedicated to education (talking to one another).

But instead, we stare at spreadsheets on our computers so that abstract financial organizations can skim money. This is NOT a more productive use of human time than "talking to one another."
#14995963
Hong Wu wrote:You are halfway towards being accused of alt-right racism here, since this is very close to suggesting that affirmative action should be based off of wealth and not upon race, an idea that the left has largely rejected because it would result in promoting lower-class whites and East Asian immigrants in terms of college admissions. Of course, the usual suspects for affirmative action (typically, blacks and Mexicans) would also get a jump but the difference in numbers would mess with racism narratives.

Begone, racist :eek:


Sir, try as I might, I find nothing which is intentionally race-selective in my suggested frame of reference. Honi soit qui mal y pense.
#14995998
When the student debt bubble collapses, you can expect a retrenchment in the EIC (Educational Industrial Complex). By retrenchment I mean near total collapse. Half the current jobs centered around attracting students, saddling them with monstrous levels of debt, and incidentally providing with some level of education will disappear overnight.

The elite Ivy League schools will survive based on their traditional role as finishing schools for the very rich. Most state institutions, without some unprecedented cash infusion from the federal government, will have to adopt a cash upfront policy. This reduces them to servicing the children of next level down from the elite - people with some level of wealth but little political influence.

Obviously they won't be able to support the massive numbers now attending college, based on this financing model.
#14996000


Corrupt college coaches are at the root of the problem, who can be easily bribed. Yale women’s soccer coach Rudy Meredith got $400,000 for the student admitted to Yale upon his recommendation. Another Georgetown tennis coach accepted close to $3 million in bribes over many years. Probably there are many other coaches who have been doing this aside from those who have been named already.

As of Monday afternoon, Yale University has official rescinded the admission of one student whose family paid $1.2 million to Rick Singer, the scheme’s confessed orchestrator, who told prosecutors he helped the family manufacture false athletic endorsements from Yale women’s soccer coach Rudy Meredith, CNN reports. Singer sent Meredith a check for $400,000 when the student was officially admitted and has pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering, conspiracy to defraud the US and obstruction of justice, and money laundering conspiracy. According to a criminal indictment, Meredith solicited bribes from a second student’s family as well.
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