When I heard the news that celebrities were being fined for paying their way into positions to top universities for their children, I can't say I was surprised. It is known that wealthy parents often donate large sums of money to schools to get their children a spot in the school. After reading more about the accusations, I actually was surprised, because the situation is much more complex.
About a week ago, multiple wealthy parents including celebrities like Felicity Huffman and Full House's beloved "Aunt Becky" Lori Loughlin, were accused of paying large sums of money to get their children into the country's top universities.
Lori Loughlin has been said to have paid $500,000 to get her daughters, Olivia Jade, and Isabella into the University of Southern California, also known as USC. Not only is she accused of paying to get her daughters admitted, but she is also accused of pretending that her daughters were rowers in high school to get them onto the school's elite Crew team.
If these accusations are true, I will be very disappointed in our world, but I will be glad that those people have been called out for their actions and will finally face the consequences. For some reason, people who are wealthy often don't think the rules or the laws of the land apply to them. This makes sense because they are used to getting past any barrier with money, but sometimes money can't save you.
I am so upset that anyone would cheat their way into college. Kids work their entire lives to get into these universities. Getting into any university takes hard work and dedication, and getting into the top schools in the country takes even more effort and more sacrifices. Most students take on a ton of AP classes, do a million extracurricular activities, and even try to balance a job in the midst of that to try to be a good applicant for their dream school while being able to afford to go there.
Every year, thousands of students are rejected from their dream school. This is a part of life as unfortunate as it is, however it is not fair when someone who did not deserve to be in a school is taking someone else's spot. It is not fair that someone can bribe their way into a school when someone else worked endlessly to get into that school.
Another issue I have with this scandal is that these girls were placed on the crew team at USC without proper training. Students train for years to try to make it onto these teams, and once they are on them, they are constantly working out, getting up early, and practicing to stay on the team. A lot of people get scholarships through sports and they would not be able to afford school without them, so they work hard to get them. They can't get on the teams if someone steals their spot.
Lori Loughlin's daughters went to an elite, private, all-girls school in California. There are no public records to show what kind of students they were, but Olivia Jade, who has a YouTube channel with over a million subscribers has said that she only wanted to go to college to experience the college life of game days and parties, and she also said that she didn't really care about school. How can someone who doesn't even "really care about school" possibly have been accepted to a prestigious institution out of her own merit? I find it very hard to believe. But everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
I don't think it is fair for wealthy kids to get to go to a school without working for it. I hope the truth comes out in the trial that is scheduled for next week. Lori Loughlin paid a one million dollar bond but is scheduled to be back in court on March 29. I am looking forward to hearing the details of the intricate scheme these people took part in, and I want justice to be served.
