If you haven't lived under a rock for the past few days then you might have witnessed the bomb that exploded all over Twitter, Instagram, and every other social media of the "Aunt Becky Scandal." On Tuesday March 12, 2019 breaking news erupted that over four dozen parents had invested millions of dollars in their children's education one of them including Lori Loughlin or more known as Aunt Becky. Now the parents didn't send money in order to help their children pay for a meal plan or loaning some spare cash for text books but funneling millions of illegal dollars to corporations and to a group of the country's most selective universities. The parents found loops holes for their kids to be accepted into the school whether that be cheating on standardized tests like the ACT or the SAT, bribing coaches, and even faking athletic credentials.
If this doesn't spark outrage in you, then you are not paying close enough attention. Let's do some basic math. According to the ACT website, the average ACT test with writing, was more than sixty dollars, and that isn't including the late fee of thirty dollars. For someone of a lower family class hovering at the poverty line, this could mean either taking the college mandatory test to further their education, or to buy enough groceries to last their family for the week, a tough decision to make. Most people rarely take the ACT only once, so to double or triple that price is out of the question. All of this money is either coming from their pockets or their parents who are already struggling. Compare this to the guilty defendants who have invested millions like it was nothing to them. The wealth gap is practically jumping up and down in front of America and no one is saying anything about it.
Lori Loughlin who played Aunt Becky on "Full House" is probably the most recognized and famous of the bunch allegedly agreed to pay bribes totally $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters, one of which is a popular YouTuber, Olivia Jade, to be recruited to the University of Southern California rowing team. Keep in mind this is a sport neither girl had been a part of, and their parents sent in pictures of them on rowing machines, something that is common in every gym across the country. Whenever the girls got into the school based on fraud, they took away two spots of girls who could have potentially been on the team and or were waitlisted and actually had the grades and put in the effort to be accepted to the prestigious school. Jade the youngest of the two had mentioned in a YouTube video that she wasn't looking forward to school, just the parties and tailgates before football games.
With over half a million dollars invested into their schooling you would think that Loughlin would invest in tutors to help her children enroll in a university, but no just illegal activities that cause them a cemented spot on the campus. What this shows is the lack in faith that Loughlin had in her daughters and how far she would go to try and put on a good front to her public image. This not only blatantly screams out the widening wealth gap it shows the white privilege as well that they are hiding behind. Where is the outrage from the media, where is the coverage of all of the underprivileged and disadvantaged students who spent months tidying for the test only to be turned down, so a rich white girl can waltz her way into the school with ease because mommy paid a pretty penny?
I believe in second chances, and I believe in looking in the good in people, but if Loughlin or her daughters or other members of the guilty party including actress Felicity Huffman or the other fifty members don't take this as a chance to speak up for the voiceless and have their children step down from their places at the school to open up spots of those more deserving then they are not the role models I want, or have others praise.
Everyone apart of this situation, whether that be a parent, a child, or part of the administration they need to take this time as an opportunity to check their values, check their privilege, and to do the right thing by acknowledging what they did as wrong and to bring awareness to the wealth gap that they have been digging since writing their checks.
