September 25, 2019
Page 9
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O PINION
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What Felicity Huffman Scandal says About America
compared to the five years
given to Tanya McDowell, a
homeless Bridgeport, Conn.
mom who was arrested and
charged after enroll-
ing her young son in a
school in a neighbor-
by J essiCah p ierre
ing public school dis-
Earlier this year,
trict that posted better
a number of wealthy
test scores.
parents, celebrities,
For many low-in-
and college prep
come families, the
coaches were accused
of offering large bribes to elite promise of education providing
universities in order to get
their children into schools they
didn’t qualify for.
Federal prosecutors charged
at least 50 people in the crimi-
nal investigation named “Oper-
ation Varsity Blues.”
Among those charged was
actress Felicity Huffman, who
was recently sentenced to 14
days in prison after pleading a pathway out of poverty is slip-
guilty to fraud. In Huffman’s ping further out of reach. Many
case, she’d paid $15,000 to are mired in underfunded pub-
have someone cheat on an SAT lic schools with few resources
to provide a quality education.
exam for her daughter.
It’s no surprise that many of
Many parents want a better
education for their child — and these communities are also home
higher education, after all, has to people of color. A new report
long been considered a path to released earlier this year found
the American dream. But Huff- that nonwhite school districts get
man’s case shows an obvious $23 billion less than white dis-
bias in the system toward peo- tricts, despite serving about the
ple who achieved it long ago. same number of students.
As someone who grew up in
Her light sentence is being
Case shows
obvious bias in
the system
a low-income household and
attended public schools, I’m a
product of that system. Each
morning, my high school wel-
comed me with metal detectors
and police officers.
I was one of the very few
lucky students that beat the
odds, graduated, and made it
through college. Most don’t.
These disparities force par-
ents from low-income back-
grounds and communities of
to secure a slot for her children
isn’t a means of survival. It’s an
abuse of power and privilege.
Varsity Blues has been
deemed the largest college ad-
missions scandal in U.S. histo-
ry. For sure, it highlights how
the inherited advantages of
our country’s wealthiest peo-
ple have shaped our education
system. Even more than that,
though, it’s part of the bigger
scandal that so many more
It’s no surprise that many of these communities
are also home to people of color. A new report
released earlier this year found that nonwhite school
districts get $23 billion less than white districts,
despite serving about the same number of students.
color to take risks — like using
the addresses of friends or fam-
ily members to get their kids
into better school systems. “I
would still do it all over again,”
said McDowell after serving
her time. “My son exceeded all
of my expectations” in the bet-
ter district, she said.
On the other hand, for parents
like Huffman — who have ac-
cess to a plethora of economic
and social resources already —
bribing colleges and universities
have so much less.
As wealth continues to con-
centrate at the top, the extreme-
ly wealthy are using it shut out
students who are already hun-
dreds of steps behind on the
road to success — all to give
the already affluent another
boost along the way.
Jessicah Pierre is the in-
equality media specialist at
the Institute for Policy Studies.
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