The college admissions scandal exposed by federal prosecutors Tuesday is at once shocking and unsurprising.
Shocking because of the dollar amounts involved, the lengths to which parents and the professional riggers went, and the brazenness of it all. Unsurprising because everyone suspected that the wealthy have a way of rigging the system and playing by a different set of rules from the rest of us.
Donald Trump is our president, and Bernie Sanders is the Democrats' rock star right now, precisely because average Americans are furious at what seems like a tilted playing field. This sort of thing only heightens that widely held perception.
Look closely enough, and you’ll see another shocking yet unsurprising lesson of this all: College education isn’t all that valuable. Think about what was involved here. The most brazen cheating here involved wealthy parents getting smarter kids to take their own children’s SATs, or else bribing proctors to correct the tests after they were completed.
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10 comments:
Change the line from "are worthless to can be worthless". Being a local Premium collecge educated individual, I readily see the shortcomings of political driven community leaders who have risen through the ranks of firemen, life savers, bartenders and chicken plant employees. The only thing OC management have in common is how to collect money from others. They recently came through an exercise to evaluated parking adequacy but eventually admitted to insufficient revenue for the Town and How to collect more from parking. They fail to see that the areas' tourist revenue growth will be coming from the West. Just look at what has sprung up there!
From Casinos to hotels to restaurants to bars to even outlets. Their focus should be on how to partner with Worcester in creating revenue streams that benefit everyone. Shore Transit tried (and failed) to make a trolley shuttle serving the West work. Ocean city is right here, not Salisbury and they can't see it under their noses. OC has existing assets in the form of Park 'n Ride from which to develop and foster mutually beneficial endeavors.
The rising West OC community wants to grow. What is OC doing to foster that and develop new revenue streams? OC has a Transit service. Will they offer it as part of new sources?
Probably not.
College Education has been worthless for Many years. 60 years ago; a High School Education was equal to a 4 yr. degree today. What does that tell you? Our public schools, colleges and universities have failed miserably...NO MORE education, ONLY Indoctrination. Very Sad.
what? 6:33 i see that college education has warped your mind
Did I miss your point 6:33. Where you addressing college educations or OC politics. College educations are overrated. My friend (barely) got a degree in home economics. She ended up taking care of pre schoolers while non-college educated mothers went to work and moved up the ladder to success.
This article is not about Ocean City 6:33 but I do agree with you
who cares about oc? with one of the lowest piggyback tax rates in the state, instead of taxing the families that live and work there, they pass the tax onto the tourists. breakin my heart! NOT!
Worthless? Dead wrong.
Many employers won't even look at you with out one.. even if you have experience in the field.
If it were "worthless", people wouldn't be cheating and spending crazy money to secure their children a place in the system.
I AGREE the system is broken. Colleges are a profit motivated, not education motivated. As long as employers insist on only interviewing those with degrees... Colleges win. The deck is stacked against young people. Your damned if you do, your damned if you don't.
College is not a cure-all for lackluster HS students, but occasionally someone is a late bloomer and finds/stumbles across something they can master, find interesting and can make a living pursuing.
A rigorous and expansive HS curriculum would serve all students better in life whether they chose college or not. It would assist them in mastering vocational fields which actually are increasingly sophisticated. Or if they pursued traditional service or retail opportunities.
Because college educated students previously gravitated to professions, with both some prestige and pay advantages, we as a country decided that everyone should partake of the feast. Colleges and programs expanded, and their expansion was subsidized which altered the equation. In turn the expansion created jobs for some of the graduates.
Well intentioned mischief is what we've accomplished. It might feel bad not to win, so no more losers, or failing students permitted without regard to effort generated to learn. So everyone with a pulse now graduates HS. And the remediation rates at community colleges are astronomical as they struggle to get a passing grade on HS level material before even advancing to college courses. Something similar occurs at many 4 year colleges where 5 or 6 years are now the norm for a 4 year degree. The opportunity costs for the students are enormous, more so for those who don't grab a diploma but have wracked up debt before quitting.
A genuine return to mastery, from first grade onward, before proceeding to the next step is the logical answer.
I think the worst thing that is being exposed in this scandal is that once anyone buys or earns a slot at ANY college, as long as the tuition gets paid, the students will be passed along until they get a degree, The only ones that don't get a degree are the ones that run out of money. NOBODY gets Ds or F's in college. Professors are prohibited from issuing failing grades to anyone who is current on their tuition. You will pass a class even if you fail every test. And preferred minorities don't even have to attend class to pass. It was that way at SSU when I attended back in the eighties. Everybody knows it, and it is being publicly confirmed during this scandal publicity. Yep, nobody fails, but they will eject you from college for not paying the bill. No money? No problem. The school will arrange student loans for you to take out so that they get their money, and you are left with a loan re-payment for 10 years after you graduate with a worthless diploma.
March 14, 2019 at 6:33 PM:
"Being a local Premium collecge educated individual"! Really? I wouldn't give you a C- for your comment. It is not logical, and is rambling, without a cohesive point. Name that "Premium College." I want to know the name of your English Professor. You are still writing at the high school level. You got screwed by that college.
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