Here's a brief rundown: Loughlin and her husband allegedly agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 to have their two daughters designated as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team. Felicity Huffman engaged in a scheme to donate $15,000 to a company in exchange for its help to fraudulently increase their daughter's SAT scores, in which the prompter would go in and correct the daughter's answers after the test was turned in to increase the score.
When USC officials found out about the cheating scam, Laughlin's daughter, Olivia Jade, was on a yacht of USC's prestigious Board of Trustees. She was later forced to leave and return home, Loughlin turned herself into the authorities, went for a court hearing, and was later released on a $1 million bond.
As for Huffman, her next preliminary court hearing is on March 29th.
We are still not sure whether each of their daughters was aware of the nefarious cheating scheme, but this just shows how often money and possessions are valued and excepted over genuine intelligence. It's sad to see that, more than ever, students have found loopholes and ways to cheat the education system to get the scores they need. Most of this is due to the fact that many feel that it may be a necessary evil that will ensure success in college and their career, but I think it's an extremely corrupt way of thinking. Instead of truly caring about and understanding the material being taught by so many of America's dignified teachers and college professors, so many students are valuing the numbers and grades on screens and report cards to make them feel like they are a "good student."
This should never be the case to value money over genuine intelligence and work ethic, but it is sadly a huge problem in recent times. This is disgusting. Education and educators ought to be valued, and hard work, time studying, and passion should be recognized and praised -- not money and celebrities and privilege.
If you have ever felt compelled to cheat on a test (or have cheated) to get your desired or passing grade, please know that grades will not fulfill you in the end. School is can be rigorous and can be quite difficult, but learning is meant to challenge your thinking and allow you to grow in your thinking. However, grades themselves will not and should not bring you joy or stress you out to the point where it is bad for mental health and you are losing sleep. Grades do not define your worth. Grades are simply a percentage, and statistics that don't truly reflect whether or not you are a good student. Please remember that!
It both saddens and angers me that more privileged people are able to do sneaky things like this to get what they want for their sons and daughters, and it just shows how much power money has and what a huge problem it can be.
