Monday, March 18, 2019

The Varsity Drag

Rich people have enough advantages in getting their kids into college, but the Operation Varsity Blues sting that caught college con man William Singer shows that those advantages go far beyond the pale.  As you all know, Singer created a rigged system in which he inflated scores of rich people's kids on both the American College Testing and Scholastic Aptitude Test exams so they could get into prestigious colleges and universities and sometimes bribed collegiate coaches to accept the students for their athletic abilities even when they participated in no sport more demanding than croquet.  The money paid to Singer was given in the form of fake donations to a fake charity.  Among the parents charged in the scandal were actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin.   
It's some once and for all to admit that American higher education is more about status and prestige than history, philosophy or classical languages - you know, subjects that make you think critically?  And the fact that students can get in more easily if they have athletic talent and can contribute more to the varsity teams than to the debating team only reminds us of how pointless and useless intercollegiate athletics are.  If college were really all about higher learning, these parents would have spent more time tutoring their kids or lowering their expectations once it became apparent that they weren't Yale material.
But, of course, it also shows how the wealthy and the powerful will always find a way to rig the system and keep out the rest of us - even when the greatest minds are not among the elite but among the riff-raff.  Great scientists, statesmen, artists, and other assorted geniuses are likely being left behind because they're not of the right socioeconomic background.  Or, as Paul Fussell once wrote, we adhere to the idea that "access to quality higher education should depend on how much money your father has," an idea he said "seldom seems to be called into question."    
Well, it's being called into question now.  And hopefully people will realize just how superficial the pursuit of prestige in higher education is.  Money can't buy you love, and it can't buy you intellect, either.  If I could sum up the folly of this whole scandal in one sentence, it would be this:  Lori Loughlin, a star of the vapid TV series "Full House" and a doyenne of Hallmark TV movies, arranged to have her daughters accepted into the University of Southern California with the understanding that they would join the women's rowing team and not necessarily pursue Shakespearean thespian training in the theater department.
Loughlin, who of course is not a classically trained actress, has been fired from all of her current projects, including her role in "Fuller House."  So much for prestige. 

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