When I left the State of Florida to move back to my Atlanta hometown to be closer to family and friends I imagined that things in the city would be pretty much the same.
Boy, was I wrong! The people, mostly the transplants, were different, the politics were different and the media outlets were different.
I had to make some major adjustments and, as you would expect, I did make appropriate adjustments.
As the first person in my immediate family to attend college, I remember how tough it was to carry a full class load with two majors while taking care of a wife and child and toiling on a 40 hour work week at WSB-TV as a 19 year old.
Studying at Georgia State University, most of my college friends were pretty much like me, hard working students with more than a few responsibilities outside of the classroom.
All I can say is, God bless the students that earned their degrees the old fashioned way!
Today, students don’t have any idea how some of their classmates got into Journalism school, got a Philosophy degree or a graduate degree in math or science.
Well, recent news reports suggest if mommy and poppy are wealthy, they can buy their son’s and daughter’s way into many of America’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning!
“Operation Varsity Blues” is the name of a federal investigation into the biggest college admission scam the Justice Department has ever uncovered.
Fifty people have been arrested, including 13 college coaches, for taking part in a devilish plot and scheme where wealthy parents paid exorbitant bribes to secure college spots for their unqualified and poorly educated children in schools like Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, UCLA, USC and Wake Forest, and perhaps in whatever college you attended.
Thirty three parents were also charged in the diabolical college scam.
Rick Singer, a Newport Beach, California man, was the sort of Crooked College Godfather that promised movie stars, equity investment officials and other rich people he could get their children into schools they were not qualified to enter for a huge fee.
Singer, once caught, pleaded guilty to many charges including racketeering, money laundering and obstruction of justice. For his criminal behavior, Singer was paid millions of dollars to get unqualified rich kids into college by hook, crook and even by paying athletic coaches bribes to recruit rich children as athletes.
Poor people are told to pull themselves up by their own boot straps while rich kids merely have to tell mom and dad to take care of everything with a bribe here and there that will result with their getting into the college of their choice.
In other words, the rich have one college admission system and the not rich have a totally different path to a college education.
Don’t let the devil stop you from seeking wisdom, getting knowledge or obtaining a college degree!
Some politicians are crying out for “free college for all” as a campaign trick, so to speak, but college for all will probably have the same fate as Medicare for all, both are dreams that can be pursued but may never be attained.
Progress and success both take hard work. If your parents have a million dollars to get you into school, they should have two million dollars to give you to start a business and pay your own way into your college of choice.
Think about yourself and the education you want and need. Don’t dwell on the tricks and traps of college crooks.
College scams are nothing new and the devil remains tricky!
Lucius is a contributing columnist to NNPA newspapers around the nation, and the author of “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” available on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere.