So, I came across this interesting article the other day, about how these rich people are paying colleges across the United States huge amounts of money to get their children admitted. Personally, this is pretty funny to me as when I was growing up my dad did the same thing. Of course my grades were pretty mediocre and I skipped class all the time in high school to go drinking out with my friends and whichever girl I was sleeping with at the time. Even with all of this, when I applied to Yale, I still got in somehow. I knew there had to have been other factors in play, but I didn’t really care as long as I got into the school that I wanted.
Regarding this scandal, however, I’m surprised that these people got caught. I wonder why the parents didn’t just make some sort of large “donation” to the school in their name instead of underhandedly trying to get some sort of deal with admissions officers, with the specific individual in this case, Douglas Hodge, having gotten his children in as false student athletes. Apparently he paid about 850,000 in total for four children, which is much less than my father paid for me. When I asked him after I graduated, he told me that he made a one million dollar donation to my school. Figures that this Douglas just got caught while trying to be cheap. In fact, this scandal goes deeper than just one person. There are around 50 people in total that have gotten caught and exposed for bribing their children into some college or other.
There are some people that consider this to be bad on principle, where the wealthy get to keep their children in the cycle of wealth even though those children have not done anything deserving of it. However, my argument is this: if a parent has worked so hard in order to come into such fortune, why should they not be able to spend it on their children ensuring their livelihood? I believe that when someone works so hard in order to make an amount of money, they should be able to spend it as they choose. What if those with money worked so hard to obtain it for the sake of their children? I’m not arguing that it is morally correct to bribe educational institutions with money, all I’m saying is that its not as wrong as people might think with the idea of the rich holding onto their position in society.
Modern society really seems to have a problem with rich people. I know the wealth gap is widening, but I don’t understand why there is a hatred towards the people that have succeeded the system rather than hatred towards the system itself.
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