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College Admissions Scandal: Felicity Huffman Arrested!


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11 hours ago, FullOfGravy said:

On the one hand, if there's proof of what they're doing, please do report it. 

On the other, it may end up pissing you off even more.  The academic dishonesty process can be such a pain in the ass for profs that some don't even pursue it; as a TA, I once had two kids submit identical (like, down to the handwriting) assignments, and I reported it to the prof.  She gave them both 0 for that assignment, but didn't take it to the dean, because, as she said, it would be a huge hassle for her, and they'd get at most a slap on the wrist for a first offence on what was really a pretty small assignment in a 1000-level class.  For what it's worth, though, in another TA job, I had someone copy-paste an entire 15-page paper for a 3000-level class from assorted Wikipedia pages.  That prof brought the hammer down with a vengeance.  I don't know for sure that the student was expelled, but at the very least they were kicked out of that class with a big ol' black mark on their transcript.  It was extremely satisfying, even as a TA who was in the dark about most of the process.

Oh, absolutely.  But if the student can't be bothered to do it and the parents are willing to pay, I'd be surprised if there weren't an agency to take care of all that pesky work involved in cheating.  If there's demand, someone, somewhere will supply.

It really depends on the school. I served on my undergrad honor court all four years and all those students would have been expelled by our committee.

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5 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Like I said earlier in this thread, people tell themselves that “wealthy people have problems just like everyone else” because the truth is so frustrating you want to rip your hair out.

Agreed. Oh, wealthy people have depression and other issues, too...  You know what is great for depression? Not having to stress about how you're going to feed yourself and keep a roof over your head. I know someone with bipolar disorder so sever that even with treatment, they are on disability. They have commented "Money wouldn't fix all my problems. But it would fix about 95% of them and leave me with the energy to deal with the remaining 5%."

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Lori Loughlin build a wholesome, Christian image over the last thirty some years. She's been outspoken about being Catholic and not taking roles that conflict with that. She's been on the 700 club. She was in the When the Heart Calls series. I think it's safe to say that's all thrown away over this. 

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2 hours ago, Glasgowghirl said:

 One look at Olivia Jade's profile shows that this girl had no desire to go to college and probably would have been better suited doing something like hair or beauty.

Seriously. That kid already has a successful job, and school is actually limiting the time she gets to work on it. I mean I know it isn't conventional and seems shallow, but being an "influencer" or "youtuber" is a real full-time job these days, and you can make good money doing it. She needs some business classes and investment advice, but she obviously doesn't want to go to college.

Is USC really that prestigious? Granted I'm on the East Coast, but I wouldn't ever list that as a "prestigious" school, IMO. I've met two people in my life who went there, and they were very nice, but they were a pro football player and his cheerleader wife. When I think "prestigious" I think Ivies or well-regarded private schools, generally.

2 hours ago, QuiverFullofBooks said:

He’s not listed in the indictment. I wonder how this will affect their marriage.

All the headlines have been "Actresses linked to scandal" type things - I wonder why it's focusing so much on the moms rather than the dads? 

Maybe I'm reading things wrong, but it sounds like the really "criminal" part of it was the fake charity/claiming it on taxes thing. The rest of it, while terrible and wrong and bad for the kids, just seems like a way for the very wealthy to get the same advantages the ultra-wealthy have always had. Ultra wealthy family endows a program or donates to build a building, kids get in on name alone. Very wealthy maybe can't afford that, but want the same advantages, and end up cheating to get there. If they'd just done direct bribes they probably wouldn't have been caught, but the fake charity thing is going to bring them down. The rest of the world has to get by on their own merits - although occasionally that means athletic rather than academic merits.

These people should have paid attention to Martha Stewart. The IRS doesn't play.

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16 hours ago, tabitha2 said:

Rich people can also afford to easily go Vegan or just whatever complex expensive Diet is the newest fad this week. Poor people diet: Ain’t no bread and cabbage in my pocket so I ain’t got no bread and cabbage in my belly.  But tacos at Taco Bell are 50 cents this week and the good ole dollar menu is filling so that will have to do :(

Being vegan does not have to be expensive.  Beans, lentils, and rice are pretty cheap.

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3 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

Being vegan does not have to be expensive.  Beans, lentils, and rice are pretty cheap.

That assumes you have access to those ingrediants, access to cooking faciliites and time to cook them. 

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59 minutes ago, Terrie said:

Agreed. Oh, wealthy people have depression and other issues, too...  You know what is great for depression? Not having to stress about how you're going to feed yourself and keep a roof over your head. I know someone with bipolar disorder so sever that even with treatment, they are on disability. They have commented "Money wouldn't fix all my problems. But it would fix about 95% of them and leave me with the energy to deal with the remaining 5%."

Completely agree. I can speak to this point, too, because I have depression/anxiety and recently got a significantly raise in salary that basically meant I moved out of living hand-to-mouth in poverty to extremely comfortable. (At least to me—it probably wouldn’t be much to some :pb_lol:The amount of anxiety I have has significantly changed—I was always dreading how I was going to handle the next emergency, and emergency for me meant things like car repairs, paying for medicine if I got sick, having a slightly larger than average electric bill, or throwing out my back and needing care. Not having to worry about how handle that and not feeling utterly powerless over my life has improved things so much. I still struggle, but it’s not a struggle to survive, which is completely different than having interpersonal struggles or actualization struggles. 

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5 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

Being vegan does not have to be expensive.  Beans, lentils, and rice are pretty cheap.

I agree BUT some people do live in food deserts and being vegan means eating a lot of processed and less nutritional food. There’s a reason why wealthy people are thinner than poor people. 

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13 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

There’s a reason why wealthy people are thinner than poor people. 

They eat fewer calories?

If you've ever been too poor to buy enough food, you know that it does not make you fat. It will sometimes make your stomach cramp from emptiness, and it will make you realize the value of the calories in say, a ketchup packet. Having no food will not ever make you fat.

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3 hours ago, QuiverFullofBooks said:

He’s not listed in the indictment. I wonder how this will affect their marriage.

He was reportedly on tapes and knew of it. Why he wasn’t on the list too, I don’t know. Is their other child a minor?  Maybe they took that into account and had more evidence against felicity.  They reportedly started the process for the second child but backed out.  That’s the reason given in the article for why he was not on the list. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but there’s got to be a reason. He knew what was going on. 

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12 minutes ago, TheOneAndOnly said:

They eat fewer calories?

If you've ever been too poor to buy enough food, you know that it does not make you fat. It will sometimes make your stomach cramp from emptiness, and it will make you realize the value of the calories in say, a ketchup packet. Having no food will not ever make you fat.

I think there are a lot of reasons why poorer people are more likely to be overweight compared to rich people. One of them is access to healthy and nutritional food. Another is access to freezers, stoves, refrigerators. Another is education about nutrition. Access to gyms and trainers. Access to mental health therapy. I could go on and on. 

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16 hours ago, Howl said:

Is ASU Arizona State University in Flagstaff?  My ex went to grad school there. 

It also puzzles me because there are a bazillionty small liberal arts colleges too expensive for most people.  These kids could go to college in a lot of different places and still get a great education. 

And if these kids are too lazy to get good grades and prep for the SAT, what's going to happen when they are admitted to an academically demanding college?  Faculty will basically tell helicopter  parents to fuck off and aren't amenable to altering grades. 

No, Flagstaff is NAU. ASU is in Tempe/Phoenix/metro valley. ASU is HUGE- 80k+ enrolled students right now, with an 83% acceptance rate. Both are good schools. But ASU is a traditionally easy school to get into and has a history of being a party school. It's working on it's reputation now, and has gotten rid of Frat Row on campus.

Edited by keen23
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16 hours ago, Mama Mia said:

College just isn’t for everyone. I really wish more people would realize this. 

This. I think I've talked about this before, but I am in a *mood*, so bear with me. 

I used to SAT tutor wealthy high schoolers. The parents would give lip service to the importance of the trades, but absolutely not when it came to their kids. (We're in D.C., where having anything less than a masters is seen as equivalent to being a third grade drop out.)

I'm sorry, but if your seventeen year old has to be bribed and arm twisted into going to school and making Cs, skips SAT prep, never reads or has shown the slightest academic interest, they aren't going to be getting a JD from Georgetown. They just aren't.

Honestly, I felt bad for the kids, most of whom weren't brats, or even dumb. I had a kid who was bright, he was just very literal and liked working with his hands and solving concrete problems rather than discussing theories. So why not let him become a mechanic rather than wasting money on a business degree from a crappy school that he'll never use?

I also had a girl who couldn't even do pre-Algebra senior year and detested reading, but loved hair and makeup and was very upbeat and social. Her parents wasted six years of tuition on the local community college before she gave up on an associate's degree. Why not send her to beauty school where she can gain an actual skill, feel good about herself and her personality, and accomplish something?

I also don't like how schools in my area are now pushing all students to take an AP class. 1. AP classes are rigorous classes that are not, and shouldn't be, designed for everyone. 2. It's not fair to the kids who are college bound to have these classes watered down. AP classes are a great way to understand the pacing and structure of college courses. Also, some middle class and working class kids really need to get a 4 or a 5 on the exam because those credits save them a lot of money.

Edited by nausicaa
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18 minutes ago, OhNoNike said:

He was reportedly on tapes and knew of it. Why he wasn’t on the list too, I don’t know. Is their other child a minor?  Maybe they took that into account and had more evidence against felicity.  They reportedly started the process for the second child but backed out.  That’s the reason given in the article for why he was not on the list. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but there’s got to be a reason. He knew what was going on. 

Admittedly I haven’t read all of the details yet, but I was struck by how much lower Felicity Huffman’s payment was than many of the others listed. At only $15,000 - I wonder if they maybe thought it was more of a legit coaching type program, with at least grey area ok tricks and tips and prep to get a marginal student a bump, then realized it was over the line when thinking it through with their second? Particularly if the contact regarding their younger daughter was directed by law enforcement - the wording was probably much more explicit in what illegal things were going to be provided for their money.  I don’t know, obviously, just something that jumped out at me when I saw the amount they paid.

 There must have been greatly differing levels of scam services going on if the payments ranged from $15,000 to $6 million. 

I came across this interesting, and sad, article about the pressure kids are under. I just don’t get it.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/03/college-bribe-scandal-shows-elite-college-obsession/584719/?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=the-atlantic-fb-test-844-4-&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social

 

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24 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

This. I think I've talked about this before, but I am in a *mood*, so bear with me. 

I used to SAT tutor wealthy high schoolers. The parents would give lip service to the importance of the trades, but absolutely not when it came to their kids. (We're in D.C., where having anything less than a masters is seen as equivalent to being a third grade drop out.)

I'm sorry, but if your seventeen year old has to be bribed and arm twisted into going to school and making Cs, skips SAT prep, never reads or has shown the slightest academic interest, they aren't going to be getting a JD from Georgetown. They just aren't.

 Honestly, I felt bad for the kids, most of whom weren't brats, or even dumb. I had a kid who was bright, he was just very literal and liked working with his hands and solving concrete problems rather than discussing theories. So why not let him become a mechanic rather than wasting money on a business degree from a crappy school that he'll never use?

I also had a girl who couldn't even do pre-Algebra senior year and detested reading, but loved hair and makeup and was very upbeat and social. Her parents wasted six years of tuition on the local community college before she gave up on an associate's degree. Why not send her to beauty school where she can gain an actual skill, feel good about herself and her personality, and accomplish something?

I also don't like how schools in my area are now pushing all students to take an AP class. 1. AP classes are rigorous classes that are not, and shouldn't be, designed for everyone. 2. It's not fair to the kids who are college bound to have these classes watered down. AP classes are a great way to understand the pacing and structure of college courses. Also, some middle class and working class kids really need to get a 4 or a 5 on the exam because those credits save them a lot of money.

Parents are living vicariously through their children. All of these parents are gunning for their kids to become investment bankers at the bulge bracket banks (think Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan), consultants at the MBB (McKinsey, Bain, BCG), a top MBA school, a top law school, medical school, or a prestigious PhD program. 

Anything less is considered an embarrassment, where I am from. The pressure children are under is unreal.

Sometimes, parents attempt to "force" their adult kids into getting multiple degrees. I personally know of a JD-MD (has both a law degree and a medical school degree) as well as a JD MBA ( top law school grad and top MBA grad) and an MD MBA (med school grad and a top MBA grad).  The debt they incur is immense unless they have parents funding it all.


Everyone on FreeJinger should check out the College Confidential forums. Are these high schoolers asking questions about college? NO... 99% are PARENTS...

Edited by luv2laugh
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49 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I think there are a lot of reasons why poorer people are more likely to be overweight compared to rich people. One of them is access to healthy and nutritional food. Another is access to freezers, stoves, refrigerators. Another is education about nutrition. Access to gyms and trainers. Access to mental health therapy. I could go on and on. 

I agree with you, and I think it's easy even for comfortably middle-class people to forget or be ignorant of exactly how a lot of people are living here in the U.S. I consider my family to be doing ok compared to a lot of our acquaintances: but I can't afford a gym membership, mental health therapy, organic food, or anything but the most basic, generic medication for my mental illness. Also, because I have depression and extreme fatigue, cooking meals is sometimes an insurmountable obstacle and we rely on fast food more than I'd like. I'm only thin because of genetics, anxiety, and appetite issues. 

I've mentioned before that where I live, a lot of people are actually residing in motels. They have a microwave and a tiny fridge, so it's no surprise that they're eating at McDonald's and Taco Bell a lot of the time. 

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@Mama Mia I know what you’re saying. I’m not trying to dismiss the fact it happened, but at $15k, and their daughter presumably had her score increased by 400 points.  Her original score was actually higher than both mine and my husband’s score.  The real kicker for me was the Lori Laughlin situation where the kid didn’t even seem to want to go to college and had such a crazy presence online.  It seemed pretty obvious the parents were kind of forcing the situation for prestige.  

I find the fact anyone paid for this horrific (I went to college and I applied and did everything myself because my parents are British immigrants and had NO idea what the American college system was like).  So yes, I still cringe at all this going on. 

BUT in the scheme of things, with was was reported, I’m less horrified with 15k to up an SAT score than 500k to get a kid into USC.   I kind of find it stupid to pay when it upped the score by 400 points.  (Especially since the kid didn’t do horribly on her own on the PSAT).   Do I have $15k to drop like that?  Nope sure don’t, but you see what I’m saying. 

And I’m by nature a rule-follower so all the cheating period is very disappointing to me.

I do reserve the right to change my opinion as more info comes out, too. 

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28 minutes ago, Lisafer said:

I agree with you, and I think it's easy even for comfortably middle-class people to forget or be ignorant of exactly how a lot of people are living here in the U.S. I consider my family to be doing ok compared to a lot of our acquaintances: but I can't afford a gym membership, mental health therapy, organic food, or anything but the most basic, generic medication for my mental illness. Also, because I have depression and extreme fatigue, cooking meals is sometimes an insurmountable obstacle and we rely on fast food more than I'd like. I'm only thin because of genetics, anxiety, and appetite issues. 

I've mentioned before that where I live, a lot of people are actually residing in motels. They have a microwave and a tiny fridge, so it's no surprise that they're eating at McDonald's and Taco Bell a lot of the time. 

I’m glad I’m able to see my own privilege in my middle class lifestyle as well. It gives you more empathy and understanding. Of course it’s taken me years to get here. I remember being a teen and completely ignorant of so many ways of life in the US. And of course I thought I knew everything at the time :5624795033223_They-see-me-rollinroll:

Edited by JermajestyDuggar
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1 minute ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

 And of course I thought I knew everything at the time :5624795033223_They-see-me-rollinroll:

Didn't we all?! :my_biggrin:

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19 hours ago, Mama Mia said:

So weird. If nothing else, the last few years have proven that being rich does not necessarily equal being bright.

But they think being rich makes them more intelligent. The parents do this a lot of the time for themselves. They want to look good to their peers. Imagine you are the CEO of some big company and your son or daughter is going to community college or wants to be a welder or a hair dresser? The embarrassment! Your child, fruit of your loins, is MUCH better than that. They are destined for Wall Street! You will make sure of it no matter how much you need to spend to get them there. 

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Totally different snark, but snark all the same: this Olivia Jade (daughter of Lori Loughlin and Mossimo guy) drives me crazy on her youtube channel and not (just) because she is a spoiled brat. No, the thing that really gets me is that she constantly looks at herself in the viewfinder. Pic in spoiler...

Spoiler

500248845_image(1).thumb.png.2b98f327913892283a4aacb64fd8c6be.png

It's seriously all the time. Girl, turn that viewfinder around if you cannot stop looking at it. I have watched a lot of YT in my day, and it's a huge pet peeve of mine. Talk to the camera!

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3 hours ago, Alisamer said:

Seriously. That kid already has a successful job, and school is actually limiting the time she gets to work on it. I mean I know it isn't conventional and seems shallow, but being an "influencer" or "youtuber" is a real full-time job these days, and you can make good money doing it. She needs some business classes and investment advice, but she obviously doesn't want to go to college.

Agreed, I don't personally follow her but follow other youtuber's who end up making it their career. I believe her mum and dad pushed her into college, she seems to prefer partying than her studies.

I went to college at 18 straight from school dropped out two courses because I wasn't in the right frame of mind started working in fast food and went back to college at 28 to get my higher's that I didn't complete at school then went to university. In hindsight I would have been better getting a job at 18 then going back to college. I will be advising any future children to follow the path they think is best for them and if they choose to leave school at 16, age you can leave school in UK, and start working or choose an apprenticeship or trade I will support that. 

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19 hours ago, Mama Mia said:

College just isn’t for everyone. I really wish more people would realize this. 

Our entire education system in the US needs to be rebuilt. 

I work to get kids interested in CTE (career and technical education) careers. What I'm finding is that those programs come with their own sets of issues. For one, these young adults are being encouraged to join these pathways very early. We have high school programs that allow students to bypass the traditional high school experience and jumpstart their careers. There are benefits to being exposed to traditional learning - Literature, Civics/Social Studies, History, Humanities. There's also a lot of personal growth that comes from being exposed to different ideas, jobs, etc. Rather than being told at 14 that if you like Welding, you can go to this special school, take a limited number of liberal arts type classes, extra classes in what you like, and graduate early. 

Not everyone is right for a traditional education, but it's not doing our society any good to focus only on earning potential and ignore everything else. It's important for everyone, including my plumber, to know some basic concepts about our country and why things are they way they are. It's also important, in my opinion, for everyone to take basic communication courses, history, and economics. If someone isn't good at them, great. It's not great to have a block of our voters in our democracy that don't know how to tell a fake news story from a legitimate news story. It's not benefiting the US to have voters who can't read maps or understand that refugees are people who had homes and jobs. Put another way - just because someone isn't interested in certain topics doesn't mean those things aren't important to know. For example - I have very little interest in cars. I was happy when Car Talk got cancelled. I still know how to put gas in my car, that it has an engine, and when the lights on the dashboard show up I can cross reference them with the manual to figure out if its something bad or something deadly. Just because I don't care how the engine works doesn't mean I shouldn't know that it has an engine. Just because someone doesn't care about history doesn't mean they shouldn't learn basic world and us history. 

I honestly think it comes down to a portion of our citizens who lack any sort of curiosity and don't find value in education or knowledge. I don't know how much of it is deliberate propaganda from corporations and other "players" but it's a real issue. No one will be harmed if our pilots are Albert Einstein.  

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And imagine there are a ton of students who busted their asses for years and are led to believe schools only accepted them to meet some quota. 

I got into an extremely competitive liberal arts college and almost the whole time I was there, I didn’t think I was good enough and only got in because I was black female international student ??‍♀️

Do you know how unimpressive you have to be to not get in with the usual parents-make-a-donation-or-have-legacy-connections trick?  Damn.

LMAO at Becky with the Bad Grades. 

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