Three Thoughts

1. As I read, watched and listened to the plethora of analyses on the scandal, my first thought was a concern for students who have legitimate disabilities and need accommodations on standardized tests. One of my children has several learning disabilities and a chronic disease and was granted accommodations on the SAT back in high school. It took me a year to work up the stamina to apply for the accommodations as an independent homeschool counselor because I knew how much documentation would be needed (15-page psychological report, 9-page updated psychological report, three letters from three different doctors, a letter from me, a letter from a counselor, and requests that were specific to his well-documented disabilities).

The idea that students with legitimate disabilities who deserve to have equal access will be scrutinized all the more and probably denied accommodations at a higher rate makes me very sad. We fought so hard to help those with disabilities gain access and a scheme like this one threatens to undo the gains we, as a society, have made.

I appreciated having my concerns echoed by colleges in a recent Inside Higher Ed article:

“Many admissions officers said that they worried about the impact of the scandal on the reputation of higher education and on the reputations of admitted applicants who have learning disabilities or who are (real) recruited athletes.”

2. The continued idea that our self-worth comes from external affirmations like the name of the college we attend, how popular we are on social media or any other platform, how much money we make, or what we do for a living was painfully obvious in this scandal. As a college consultant, one of my emphases has been on helping students see their value apart from any college they may or may not get into. Much has been written about it, including my own words (taken from an article I wrote last year on managing expectations in college admissions):

”My encouragement to students is this: it's o.k. to dream big; it's o.k. to reach high, but you will help yourself greatly if you can go into the application season with a realistic understanding of the competitive nature of college admissions, and a realistic set of expectations about what may or may not happen. Regardless of the outcome, you are valuable-not for what you have accomplished or what college you might attend-but for who you are intrinsically; you are worthwhile just for being you, and no college acceptance or rejection can ever change that!”

I cannot emphasize enough that our value does not come from externals and each of us has a unique and special role to play in life- our own lives and in the lives of those that we touch every day.

3. The last takeaway I’ll address is the idea that college is for everyone and that we shouldn’t listen to our kids when they have other ideas for their lives. I confess I am someone on the outside looking in when it comes to celebs. We don’t have cable or Netflix and I was not familiar with either of the main players indicted. What I did read was the statement of one of the daughters who didn’t really want to be in college and who seemed to be quite successful without it.

My husband doesn’t have a college degree and I have one from the local state university. My husband supported me on a UPS driver’s salary while I went to grad school. He’s supported our family while I raised and homeschooled my children and worked very part-time as a jazz dancer and later, as I began to build my business.

We value education but our children know that we believe that college isn’t necessary for everyone and we certainly would support our children if they chose another route. This really goes back to point two; our value doesn’t come from having a college degree and it’s a shame that so many have bought into that notion. I do value college; otherwise, I wouldn’t be in this business. I don’t think it’s the end-all-be-all and I certainly don’t think that the prestige of a college has any relevance to the value of a person.

I have a friend who can design and build garages, houses, cars, anything really, and is immensely gifted at it. He’s absolutely amazing! School was not a good fit for him; I’m so glad he pursued his talents and passions instead of trying to fit into a box he was never meant to be in.