March Madness It’s not that difficult to discern the issues at hand in the federal Operation Varsity Blues case. A man persuades people, some notably wealthy, to pay him to get their children into college, and not just any college, but elite universities such as Georgetown, the University of Southern California and Yale. The convicted ring leader — a man named William “Rick” Singer — and his parental and university enablers are under arrest, as they should be. Every liberal and conservative, progressive and libertarian should agree that cheating a child of their education is wrong. It’s simply wrong. Yet it happens, ... Take Atlanta, where the public school system was thrown in chaos after 35 educators were indicted in a cheating scandal in 2009. They didn’t deprive the students of an education, though. But the children were shortchanged academically by the educators falsifying their standardized test scores. The educators, like those in Operation Varsity Blues, were nabbed and indicted for participating in racket. One of those Atlanta teachers, Shani Robinson, has co-written a book whose title speak volumes, “None of the Above: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Public Schools Cheating Scandal, Corporate Greed, and the Criminalization of Educators.” A write-up on ... Several years later, the D.C. Public School system was hit with a cheating scandal similar to Atlanta’s. The D.C. scandal was the flip side of what’s playing out in Operation Varsity Blues. And you know why. D.C. taxpayers pay for free schooling, free meals and free transportation for all students. In other words, it, too, is pay-to-play, but the wealthy parents generally opt of D.C. public schools — and for good reason. In 2017, D.C. schools were thrown into chaos when it was learned that teachers and faculty had falsified grades and attendance records, including those of seniors who were ... Two of the most well-known parents caught up in the cheating are actresses Lori Houghlin and Felicity Huffman, both of whom were arrested, jailed and released on bond. Singer, 58, pleaded guilty on charges of racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of justice. He faces 10 to 20 years in prison. He reportedly helped more than 800 families and received more than $25 million from parents between 2011 and 2018. That’s a lot of dough, money that could have been a hand up for academically worthy students, including student-athletes. Consider the non-academically elite ... Continue reading... https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/mar/14/education-system-scandals-is-true-march-madness/
