Alice Wu

The true heartbreak of the US college admissions scandal is it’s routine

‘Legacy places’, wealthy donations, pricey tutors and education consultants – the education systems in Hong Kong and elsewhere routinely favour the wealthy even without this most recent outrage

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Actress Lori Loughlin poses with daughters Olivia Jade Giannulli (left) and Isabella Rose Giannulli in February. Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli were charged, along with nearly 50 other people on March 12, in a scheme in which wealthy parents are accused of bribing college insiders to get their children into some of the most elite schools in the country. Photo: AP

Alice Wu

Published: 9:00am, 18 Mar 2019Updated: 10:50am, 3 May 2019

Having heard the news on the American college admissions scandal I, like many others, felt outraged. I was lost for words over the extent to which people abuse their privilege and use money to rob others of opportunities and experiences.

I understand that they remain allegations – nearly 50 people, including actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, have been charged in what authorities say was a US$25 million racketeering scheme to help wealthy Americans get their children into top US universities. But it’s understandable, too, why these allegations have caused widespread outrage.

For one, they go straight to the jugular of our very human sense of fairness. Scientists may still argue over how much of our sense of fairness is innate and how much is nurtured, but we don’t need science to tell us it’s there; news like this shakes it to its core. Like it or not, our sense of fairness is the basis of human society.

Cheaters take more than they are supposed to at the expense of others. This kind of theft is based on not just greed but also corruption – and the victims are those who play by the rules or who do not have access to that sort of “purchasing power”. How unfair it must have been for those who got into these schools through traditional hard work and their own merit!

Whether our visceral disgust against injustice is a cultural phenomenon or biological doesn’t matter; it doesn’t take much to understand the harm these alleged cheats have done. Deserving students are cheated out of their seats and opportunities. How can one measure missed opportunities and hope? Especially when it is caused by a playing field that is not level.

But what about the “legacy places” – favouring admission for those whose forebears had attended the same institution – that William Han already pointed out in this paper? Indeed, the playing field has not been level for a long time.