In My Never Humble Opinion... College Admissions Scandal

In my never humble opinion...

Yesterday I read with shock and disgust about the college scandal where actresses Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman among many others are charged with paying huge bribes for their teens to attend universities which otherwise they would not have had the qualifications to attend. (If you missed it, here's the article)

Because these teens were falsely admitted into these programs, other truly qualified teens were turned away because frankly, there’s only so many spots to fill.

I’m a single mom who works multiple jobs to raise my own teens single-handedly. My kids work unbelievably hard to maintain straight A’s in school — my older daughter taking multiple AP classes, spending endless days, nights, weekends, and yes, holidays, writing papers and studying for exams. I can’t afford special classes or tutors to help them prepare for the PSATs and SATs, and just recently we scraped to get the money together to just to pay for the AP exams. My kids know this, and they never complain, and would never ask for anything such as an SAT prep class that they know we can’t afford —instead, they do as much work as they humanly can to get the best grades they can. They work for it.

To those parents and families who had a part in this scandal I say this: How dare you think that your child is more deserving than mine.

What I can tell you is this: Last night I went to bed with the satisfaction of knowing that even though my family may have a speck of what yours has financially, my kids and I have so much that you’ll never have; integrity, work ethic, and good common sense.

In this situation there is such a lack of thought or care about the students who were turned away from those schools due to your actions. In reading all the articles and opinions about this scandal one of the most prolific words thrown around is “privilege.“ That’s barely the tip of the iceberg. It’s one thing to have money and think that you are privileged due to that, but it’s completely another thing to have such a lack of character—and to be a parent with such a lack of character—that you would even consider participating in such an elaborate illegal scheme.

You know what's more important than the caliber of school you attend? Being a decent human being.

Like I said earlier, this entire scandal may be shocking and disgusting, but when I go to bed at night I sleep so well not just due to the fact that I know I have great kids who work so hard to earn all that they have, but also due to the fact that I am a great mom.

So to all you other great moms, dads, kids, and families out there—keep working hard and doing your best. Not all that we do pays off financially in the end, but to have the peace of mind that you did things the right way and with honesty and integrity...that is priceless.