A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR REFLECTS ON THE COLLEGE CHEATING SCANDALS
Moanalua grad Kacie Yamamoto, college bound! (Photo courtesy of Kacie Yamamoto)
By Kacie Yamamoto
When people hear of my acceptance to the University of Southern California, I’m met with both congratulations and a common joke: “Wow, your parents didn’t have to pay half a million dollars to get you in there, did they?!”
The college admissions and sports bribery scandal sting, known as Operation Varsity Blues, came to light in March, and exposed a large scheme where parents paid thousands of dollars to help their children cheat their way through the competitive college admission process. Through doctored photos of their children as athletic team recruits, faulty standardized test scores and other means, a number of parents essentially bought their children acceptances to highly selective institutions around the country. These institutions included Yale, Georgetown, and USC.
This scandal is tangible proof of the amount of pressure placed on students and their parents to gain acceptance to prestigious universities. In reality, cheating, while maybe not on this large of a scale, is normal behavior among students, who lend homework answers and sneak cell phone pictures of answer keys regularly to avoid bad grades and college rejections.
In American society, I’ve noticed it’s common to associate where someone got their undergraduate degree to their potential for later success. So in a way it’s natural for students and parents to want to do all they can to ensure a piece of that success for themselves. But it’s undoubtedly morally wrong to pay for this success through money rather than four years of hard work in high school. Acceptance to a top school in no way validates cheating to get there.
The actions of these cheating parents led to consequences worse than a rejection letter: revoking of their children’s admissions, hefty fines and possibly even jail time.
Since the Varsity Blues scandal first broke, USC and the other schools involved has investigated students and parents thought to be involved and also reevaluated the school’s athletic recruitment policies.
The Catholic view
Our Catholic faith teaches us the value of doing the right thing. We learn that when we do good, good comes to us, and vice versa. Throughout my college admissions process, I reminded myself of this. I kept my faith in God’s plan for me in the back of my mind as I told myself that I would end up being accepted, and eventually attending, the institution that was the best place for me to learn and grow. I think everyone should adopt this mindset, whether it be for college admissions, new job offerings or personal struggles. When we work hard for ourselves and do the right thing, I’m a firm believer that God will guide us to the right place.
I am extremely excited to be attending USC next year, and I’ve never been more grateful. I know that my hard work paid off, and I know that when I face my next challenges, God has a plan for me. With that in mind, I know that I can do anything.
Kacie Yamamoto graduates from Moanalua High School this year. She is a parishioner at St. Stephen Parish in Nuuanu.