College Admissions scandal

I am known to be critical of the American collegiate system. I have frequently referred to the process as a buy-in model for the most desirable jobs. Our colleges have been effective in ensuring that rich families stay rich and poor families struggle to improve their situations.



The recent college admissions scandal definitely matches my views on our collegiate system. Unfortunately, I don't think that I have been very clear about one thing. My views about how rich families can buy success were never meant to be restricted to legal means.

Imagine for a moment that a homeless individual bribed an admissions officer five dollars for a free ride at Harvard. I'm sure a lot of people would love that opportunity. It's also completely unrealistic. What if someone has millions of dollars available to cheat the system. We are now entering the realm of reality. Rich families undeniably have better resources available to cheat the system.

Much like I saw with the evidence against learning styles, a lot of people are ignoring the deeper issues. I have read many articles online that insist that rich families gaming the system are undermining the value that colleges have in providing economic mobility. Over the years, I have seen all sorts of evidence that people with more credentials are better off than people with less. I completely agree with this. For economic mobility, however, you would need to establish that poor families have the same opportunities as the rich. I believe that people from disadvantaged backgrounds would do better if they could prove their ability to contribute rather than require them to invest their limited time, money, and effort into obtaining credentials.

The evidence frequently shared shows that we have become a credentialist society. The problem with the argument is that establishing that we have credentialist tendencies is very different from establishing that credentialism is a valid tool for economic mobility. This argument isn't quite as bad as, "If you can read this, thank your teacher." Even so, it still completely defies common sense.

There is one more thing that I wanted to bring up. This scandal exploited preferential treatment that colleges provide athletes. How many times have I insisted that we should not connect colleges with sports? If I had my way on just this one particular issue, the entire conversation would have to shift to some other way in which rich people can cheat within our credentialist society.