For my diary of systematic injustices showcase I am choosing to talk about the affects financial privilege has on college students. In particular I will be talking about the “college admission scandal” that occurred in 2019 and the effects the parents’ financial status has on their children. In 2019 it was found that over 50 people took part in the “college admission scandal.” There were people cheating on standardized tests, changing the scores, bribing the university, as well as some athletic coaches. Many children that come from wealthy families were able to get into colleges even though they did not meet the requirements. Some were even in sports teams even though they have never played that sport. This is a huge problem that should be resolved. It creates an unfair environment for many students who meet and or exceed the requirements to be admitted into a university. There were many parents who were involved in this case but one in particular got the most media coverage. This includes Lori Loughlin, her husband Mossimo Giannulli, and their two daughters: Olivia Jade Giannulli and Isabella Rose Giannulli. Olivia received the most backlash out of the two daughters. I believe this is because her social media presence there was much more than her sister’s. There were also many clips of her on her YouTube channel speaking poorly of college and the college experience. If you do not know much, she said she was only at college because her parents wanted her to be there and that she was there to party. Here is an article if you want to read more about her part in the “college admissions scandal.” https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/olivia-jade-lori-loughlin-red-table-talk-college-admissions-1234848220/ This is a great article, and she owns up to everything and explains her side of the story. I would also suggest watching her on Red Table Talk. https://www.facebook.com/redtabletalk/videos/olivia-jade-speaks-out/298151528184131/
Secondly, I will be talking about how this affects people of the middle class and lower. There are so many people whether you have wealth or not that work extremely hard to get into these universities. Now people who are of the lower class do not have the means of taking standardized tests repeatedly until they get the score that they need. They may also not be able to afford the test prep or test classes. So, for someone who may have been able to gather the money to do all this and worked hard to get a high enough score may not have been let into a university because of these parents. There were many parents who did this behind their children’s backs which is extremely sad. Are upset by this and it breaks the trust universities may have created with the community. Overall, we should not have universities who are allowing this and partaking in this. There needs to be a solution to this, and law-enforcement/government should be more involved to make sure that this does not happen again. Below I will attach an article that is remarkably interesting to read and has a great standpoint on how financial privilege can affect people of the lower classes. https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/history-privilege-higher-education/
Thank you for choosing this topic to showcase! I love that you brought in the affects of the middle and lower class because one of our classmates did their showcase on ACT scores and how there is a direct correlation to the families economic status and it is cool to see that connect to your showcase! I like how you brought up the point that parents (who most likely also paid for tutors and other resources to boost their child’s scores) bribe and bend the rules to get their child into colleges that students from lower economic classes just will not have the opportunity to go to due to lack of resources. It is disgusting that people that have the money to spend on resources to get their children the education they need still choose to bend the rules and take opportunities from other students.