The SAT Scandal By: Jenna Blandina

        One of the most recent scandals in celebrity magazines and every newspaper in America, is celebrities and rich people finding a way around the SAT test to improve their childrens’ test scores dramatically. This is so their children can get into an elite school they would have otherwise might not have gotten into. The people committing this are using money to their advantage by paying people to do a variety of illegal things. One being paying doctors to write a fake diagnosis to allow for more time on the SAT test. Others, are paying other people to take the test for their children. Some, are photoshopping images of their child being involved in a sport such as rowing as well, to increase the chances of getting into an elite school. Teachers are even being paid to change test answers on the scantron.
         This scandal is one of the first major outbreaks where there is solid evidence that specific people actually cheated their way into college. People’s favorite TV stars such as Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, among other wealthy parents were found doing this by the FBI.
         Wouldn’t one think that the people who cheated their way into college should be thrown out? I certainly would think so, but, many of the parents are insisting that most children had no idea they were doing anything of the sort. If I was one of these people’s children, I would think that my parents did not do this out of love. If this happened to me, I would feel defeated because this implies that my parents did not think I could get into the college by being myself. I believe that everyone has the right college for themselves. If one doesn’t get into an elite or ivy school, there is a reason. Maybe it would be too sressful because the academic level wasn’t being met. Now, because parents are buying their childen into college, the whole purpose of the SAT is defeated. Someone can not measure the academic ability of someone and allow them to be accepted into a prestigious school, if the system is rigged.
        A major issue now, is the question of whether the SAT should even be a requirement for schools because there seems to be ways to cheat, as shown from the FBI investigation. Is the SAT going to be thrown away? Will people stop trusting the testing process? This is all an unknown for right now, but what we do know, is people are very mad about this. People who probably deserve to get into an elite school because they earned it, (not because they had the money to get in) but get denied are definitely feeling angered. If I was them, I too would be mad. Now, college admissions might be changing requirements for testing and scores to get into their schools which could change the way many people have been studying exams such as the SAT. Only time will tell on this scandal, and more information will be available once a more thorough investigation has taken place.
     

Two articles on this scandal:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-4753217
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/us/sat-act-cheating-college-admissions.html