Actress Felicity Huffman began her two week prison sentence earlier today for her involvement in the college admissions scandal. She was one of many parents who used illegal methods such as bribing to gain their children acceptance in universities. Her method was to pay a proctor $15,000 for an SAT exam to correct her daughter’s test so she could get a much higher score.
Another actress, Lori Loughlin, is facing up to 40 years in prison for paying $500,000 to have her daughters enrolled as athletic recruits for the rowing team at USC, despite neither of them having rowed. She is expected to get a much harsher sentence because she plead not guilty in court.
The actions of these parents has outraged many, who are upset at how wealthier students can have a much greater chance of getting into selective schools. Also, some people find it ironic how Lori Loughlin spent more money on guaranteeing her daughters admission into USC than the entire education is worth. People also found irony in how on Loughlin’s show Full House, there was an episode where her character reprimands her husband for embellishing to get into a preschool for their children. (CLICK HERE to watch the scene from the show.)
In regards to Felicity Huffman’s sentence, do you think it was fair? Why or why not? Also, how do you think schools should handle students who gained acceptance through their parents illegal measures? What can these schools do to ensure the integrity of the admissions process?
Irregardless of the university aspect of the scandal, there was money laundering and various obstructions of justice which are all blatantly illegal actions, so likely the sentence was completely fair. There is no obvious reason to punish the students for their illegal entrance especially given the scope of the news and punishment, the schools should most likely take it upon themselves to protect the students from issues pertaining to the news at hand. To prevent such scandals from happening in the future would probably be really hard, and rather unnecessary as college admission doesn't inherently need to have integrity.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Eric! What amazes me is that these parents believed their children needed additional advantages in addition to what they already had.
ReplyDeleteOne suggestion: link an article to your post in order to build your credibility.