Like you, I’ve read about the college admission cheating scandal a hundred times in the last few days. I’ve also read the term “privileged” a thousand times. At first, I didn’t think about it. After all, no poor people were involved. Heck, no middle-class people seemed to have been involved. However, over the decades of college admissions, millions of wealthy families have worked to help their children get into elite colleges the right way. The honest way. So, why has everyone resorted to “privileged” as the unique qualifier of the people in this scenario? Sure, all those accused this time are privileged, but not all privileged families took this dishonest route. We’re using the wrong adjective and it’s sending the wrong message to our kids.
These people are unethical, and unethical people are represented in every tax bracket. In this case, it was pay-to-play, so privileged families participated. In past cases, colleges have been scammed by virtually every wealth-class out there (these stories are easy to find). It’s not about being rich or poor. It’s all about being ethical or unethical. It’s about right or wrong. The unique qualifier that describes these people is “unethical”… and that’s what our kids need to hear.
Why is this important?
For the next week, please observe the people in your life. Listen to your friends, co-workers, family members, and random people sitting in the booth behind you at Chili’s. Pay attention to social media posts. No one takes accountability, and everyone labels others.
You’ll hear comments like this:
- “The refs were biased. They love ACC teams.”
- “They won the deal because they were the cheapest. I guarantee they low-balled us.”
- “He didn’t make the team because we don’t kiss the coach’s butt like those rich parents.”
- “She didn’t get in because she’s white.”
Let me know every time you hear something like: “We lost because they were better.” Seriously, let me know. I’m curious how many people out there take full responsibility like this.
To be clear, I am not saying that the cheaters from this scandal are better. They’re unethical and should be punished if found guilty. My point is that the mislabeling of these people leads to a lack of accountability and a greater divide in our society.
By labeling these people simply as privileged, we’re saying: “The rich screwed us.” No, the unethical screwed us. The message we’re reading and hearing teaches our kids that rich people are bad, which tells our kids that it’s not about ethics or hard work, it’s about being part of a certain demographic. No, it’s about ethics and hard work. It also adds to our class division. Wouldn’t it be cool to have divisions in our society like honest vs. dishonest, or hard working vs. lazy? Instead, we have … well, you know what we have.
So, do me a favor. If my point resonates with you, please kindly point out to others that this latest scandal is not a privileged vs. unprivileged situation. This is a right vs. wrong situation.
