Wealth, Privilege, Morals and Ethics, Parenting 101

I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay
Ain't it sad
And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me
That's too bad
In my dreams I have a plan
If I got me a wealthy man
I wouldn't have to work at all, I'd fool around and have a ball

Money, money, money
Must be funny
In the rich man's world
Money, money, money
Always sunny
In the rich man's world
Aha aha
All the things I could do
If I had a little money
It's a rich man's world
It's a rich man's world

Abba

Last week all of our news channels (Local, National) and newspapers were obsessed with the story of several rich Parents spending unbelievable sums of "payoff" money to get their kids in "elite" colleges.  The story resonated with most of my friends and a few blog readers so much that I had to actually go back and look at this story...and make it a specific blog post.  Geez Thanks Whitey!

I must confess that when the story first broke I never thought to dwell on it because it seemed to me to be just  "fake" news.  Why?  Well the basic headlines had me thinking is this anything new?  After all rich and (or) powerful people (more on the "powerful" later) always used "the system" probably since the time of the Pharaohs, Greeks, Romans, Han Dynasty, Genghis Khan, The Roman Catholic Church, Charlemagne, Henry the 8th, Louis the 14th, ...and moving right on to Stalin, Castro, The Roosevelts, Kennedy's, the Bushes and Clintons...oh and for sure "The Trump's".   Now I grant you their may be a big differences in using one's name or direct "influence" to get into schools like  Yale, Harvard, Stanford etc (Clinton's, Kennedy's, Bush's) or to get jobs at NBC (Bush's and Clinton's kids).  But seriously isn't that what parents have done forever???  

Well to be an equal opportunity kind of guy here is some fun food for thought about a recent Powerful Family getting their kids a bit of a leg up on everyone else's kids:

Taken From Wikipedia:

'Before his inauguration, President Obama published an open letter to his daughters in Parade magazine, describing what he wants for them and every child in America: "to grow up in a world with no limits on your dreams and no achievements beyond your reach, and to grow into compassionate, committed women who will help build that world."^[26]

While living in Chicago, the Obamas kept busy schedules, as the Associated Press reported: "soccer, dance and drama for Malia, gymnastics and tap for Sasha, piano and tennis for both."^[27][28] In July 2008, the family gave an interview to the television series Access Hollywood. Obama later said they regretted allowing the children to be included.^[29] Malia graduated from and Sasha attends the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., the same school that Chelsea Clinton, Tricia Nixon Cox, and Archibald Roosevelt attended and that the grandchildren of Vice President Joe Biden attend.^[30] The Obama girls began classes there on January 5, 2009;^[31] Malia graduated in 2016. Before the family moved to Washington in 2009, both girls attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory School.^[32]

In his victory speech on the night of his election, President Obama repeated his promise to Sasha and Malia to get a puppy to take with them to the White House.^[33] The selection was slow because Malia is allergic to animal dander;^[34] the president subsequently said that the choice had been narrowed down to either a labradoodle or a Portuguese Water Dog, and that they hoped to find a shelter animal.^[35] On April 12, 2009, it was reported that the Obamas had adopted a six-month-old Portuguese Water Dog given to them as a gift by Senator Ted Kennedy;^[36]Malia and Sasha named the dog Bo.^[36] The White House referred to Bo as the First Dog.^[37] In 2013, the family adopted a second Portuguese Water Dog named Sunny.^[38]

As a high school student, Malia Obama spent a portion of the summer in 2014 and 2015 working in television studios in New York and Los Angeles.^[39] She spent the summer of 2016 working as an intern in the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain.^[40]

During the week June 26, 2016, to July 3, 2016, Michelle, Sasha, Malia and Michelle's mother Marian Robinson went to Liberia to promote the Let Girls Learn Peace initiative, for which the United States has funded $27 million in aid for expansion.^[41] They met with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first elected female head of state in Africa.^[41] Then they moved to Morocco, where they had a panel with Freida Pinto and Meryl Streep moderated by CNN's Isha Sesay in Marrakesh and delivered a substantive amount of money to aid 62 million girls lacking access to formal education. They proceeded to Spain where Michelle delivered a message about the initiative.^[41]

In August 2016, Sasha began working at Nancy's, a seafood restaurant in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.^[42] In the fall of 2016, Malia went on an 83-day trip to Bolivia and Peru.^[43] In February 2017, Malia started an internship for Harvey Weinstein at The Weinstein Company film studio in New York City.^[44] In August 2017, Malia started attending Harvard University.^[45]"

Yes I know our Former President said he wanted this for every girl in America -(from above)  "to grow up in a world with no limits on your dreams and no achievements beyond your reach, and to grow into compassionate, committed women who will help build that world."^[26]

I wonder what that Harvey Weinstein internship did for Malia?  Well she did of course get into Harvard, but with that resume I am sure she didn't need  a last name of Obama to get in.

Oh and notice how the "media" played a role in their development, like Chelsea, Jenna and Barbara.  The same media who are like wolves with red meat on this story. 

Now before I have missed the point on the admissions scandal, fear not.  Their are some significant moral issues involved here that are likely not a part of the families I mentioned above.  I would sincerely doubt that Michelle Obama would hire someone to take her kid's SAT's to get into Harvard, nor would George W. Bush have to pay a coach to lie about his daughter, Barbara's  "yachting" credentials. Heck everyone knows about Kennebunk Port, for sure Yale did.

But One last item before I get into morality....even socialists (or the wives of (Socialists )help their Kids get ahead:

From Vermont Digger....one of my favorite "Neutral" sources of Vermont news:

One family, two schools: Questions raised about another Sanders deal

While one deal struck by Jane O’Meara Sanders during her time as Burlington College’s president has triggered a federal investigation, another arrangement she engineered is breeding claims of nepotism and allegations of veiled threats against her husband’s presidential campaign.

The bad blood centers on the relationship the college forged with the Vermont Woodworking School, co-founded and run by Sanders’ daughter, Carina Driscoll.

Carol Moore, the final president at Burlington College, broadly blames the school’s 2016 closing on Sanders. In a scathing op-ed last year, Moore wrote: “BC’s fate was set when its former board members hired an inexperienced president.”

Moore is equally critical of a deal Jane Sanders brokered between the college and Driscoll’s Vermont Woodworking School, a facility in Franklin County where Burlington College students took courses.

In interviews with VTDigger, Moore said the college got the short end of the stick.

“This was a sweetheart deal for Carina Driscoll, Jane Sanders’ daughter,” said Moore. Driscoll is the stepdaughter of Bernie Sanders.

Moore served as the college’s president from 2014 until May 2016, when the school abruptly shut down.

Moore alleges the woodworking school was “gouging the college.” She praised the academic merits of the program but said it was “barely” profitable..........

Students began attending the woodworking school in 2009 on what appears to have been a handshake deal. A formalized contract was made only under Jane Sanders’ successor as president, Christine Plunkett. The lack of a written agreement raised questions from the college’s accrediting body, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, or NEASC.................

According to publicly available tax documents, the Vermont Woodworking School received more than $500,000 between 2009 and 2012 for “materials charges and lease of bench space” for Burlington College students who took furniture-making and woodworking design courses in a restored red barn in Fairfax........................

Internal documents obtained by VTDigger show that, as Burlington College was about to close, the woodworking school was one of the college’s most expensive programs.

Moore and others say the financial split on tuition money was too lopsided toward the woodworking school.

Article goes on with a she said he said bent.  If interested here is a link to the entire article from 2017.

Vt Digger Burlington College Sanders

Perhaps my mind is too jaded but when I first heard this story break my thoughts turned to "How is this different than anything in History" and immediately thought of the Bushes, Clinton's and yes Bernie Sanders (from my Vermont days) etc.  The Obama piece I actually just looked up!  Why did Wikipedia not surprise me?  Anyway you can understand my initial lack of curiosity on the initial breaking story.

So now some observations of my own having read and listened to many media accounts:

Observation 1.  

By know many of you have realized that I always try to look at things from the standpoint of human behavior (as developed biologically and Socially) through the ages. This story is no different.

Human instinct and imperative number one "biologically" is to protect and nourish our young.  I assume you recall the story of Solomon who choose the "right mother" by threatening to cleave an infant in two in front of two women who claimed the child.  The "true" mother would never want to see her baby die.  This concept is as old as humanity.

Now, Many of you could likely cite cases of mothers neglecting or abusing their babies.  I realize that does happen.  Yes genuine cruelty exists and in rare instances a mothers biological instinct geared (like most mammals) to protecting and nurturing their young gets switched "off".  Society generally chalks  it up as "evil" a concept I will not digress to at this moment.  In any instance i know it occasionally happens.  But bottom line it seems obvious that Mother's are strongly conditioned to advancing their young's prospects for survival and "success", at almost any cost.

Observation 2 

Likewise Father's have a basic "need" to spread their gene's and it is here social evolution likely takes a front seat. Surely, a desire to see your progeny advance is ingrained in men as well. Additionally I would go a step further and suggest that humans generally want to help advance all those we love or see as "part of our common social group" get ahead in life.  Frankly, if not how would any human betterment take place? An example of what I mean:

How many times have all of us helped a friends kid get a job, or get into our college alma mater.  In this sense the concept of "privilege" extends outward from family to social group all the way to the Nation and World. Each concentric circle get's larger and yes a little more difficult to identify with.  That is why we will help a neighbor's kid before some kid from Bangladesh. For any of you who are "uncomfortable" with this I suggest you get over it.  Without group and family bonding what is it to be 'human'.  However, it is here that the rubber meets the road on this particular scandal.

Observation 3  

I do not fault all those elite families of former President's  mentioned above for wanting to see their kids advance and to help them along the way. They are human as well and I actually would think it abhorrent to not "help your kids" prepare for life, either formally or informally. However, I am not sure if Jane Sander's deal for her daughter was "moral".  If I was President of a College and I thought teaching kids woodworking was an important academic endeavor, and my child was a great woodworking teacher I might hire her.  Then again I have issues with the other basics here.  Mr. Sander's champions the idea of "College for All"  with the government paying for it. While it may in theory be a noble goal, it for sure makes the money fly for such connected deals and very easy to use political influence and power to bury.  Like I inferred above, "Power" comes in many forms not just money...even in Venezuela !  We just kid ourselves thinking giving everyone free college would end gaming admissions by the rich or connected.

But here is the moral aberration here and one I find repugnant in this whole affair.  

The same "small group" identity I mentioned in observation 2 becomes an important element in Observation 3.  Groups also expect social cooperation to be "fair" (think of Haidt), both "liberals" and "conservatives" share this feeling and this is,in part, why this story resonated with everyone.  Hiring proctors to help your kids cheat is essentially screwing everybody outside a socially acceptable form of helping.  (Back to Observation 2....rich, poor and in between can generally "get" making a phone call to help a friend get a job, into a union or into a "club".  They cannot understand lying and cheating to advance your kid, it essentially breaks an important social contract).  You simply don't "F" your buddies or your fellow countrymen.

Finally what likely seems more repugnant to most and even more socially taboo is to actually teach your kids to F their contemporaries.  This for me is absolutely the saddest piece of the whole affair. Talk about corrupting the next generation! 

That is my Final Observation but below is one last commentary taken from Today's WSJ Piece.  It helps one bleakly ponder the moral lessons imparted by these parents to their kids.  Underlined in bold below is what sickened me most.

Until next time 

Adieu

Key Ingredient in College-Admissions Scheme: A Harvard-Graduate Test Whiz

From the article:

In court on Tuesday, Mr. Singer said Mr. Riddell would fly in from Florida to two test centers in Houston and West Hollywood, Calif.  Parents were advised to concoct a reason, such as a bar mitzvah, for why they were in town.

There, Mr. Riddell would either take the ACT or SAT test for the student, help them during the test, or change the student’s answers afterward, federal authorities said. Mr. Singer would pay Mr. Riddell approximately $10,000 per test.

Tanned and sandy blond, Mr. Riddell charmed the students during these encounters. “She loves the guy,” one parent, Marcia Abbott, said about her daughter to Mr. Singer in a recorded phone call described in the filings. “She said he was so sweet.”

Ms. Abbott and her husband, Greg, who Thursday stepped aside as chief executive of International Dispensing Corp. , allegedly used Mr. Riddell to correct answers on their daughter’s ACT test and then booked him for the SAT, flying her in from Aspen to the L.A. testing site last October, court filings say.

Ms. Abbott was seeking scores on the SAT above 750 per section, which is what she said Duke University required. In a phone call, Mr. Singer assured her that it could be done, according to the court filings.

“We’ll get 750 and above,” Mr. Singer promised.

“Fabulous,” Ms. Abbott replied.

After the Abbotts’ daughter scored in the mid-600s in the literature section on her own—by Mr. Singer’s estimation—Mr.  Riddell fixed some errors and she ended up with a 710, according to federal filings. For math, he got her a perfect 800, according to the filings.