College Admissions Scandal--Two Years Later

[apl68]

Hard to believe it's been two years since the Varsity Blues business broke.  I just read Guilty Admissions:  The Bribes, Favors, and Phonies Behind the College Admissions Scandal, by Nicole LaPorte.  There's a lot in there about the hypercompetetive culture from which the whole thing stemmed.  Apparently in the system of values in which those parents and students operated, it all kind of made sense.  I notice that there have also been new documentaries on the elite college admissions mess.  Looks like the issue is still out there, even if COVID and all has pushed off of the public's front burner.

One anecdote seemed to me to encapsulate something about the culture.  One of the bribeable coaches was noted for inspiring his soccer players to develop a killer competitive instinct through an exercise that involved having two players face off against each other.  He would toss a ball between them.  Whoever could deliver the ball to him would win.  The other would have to do a grueling two-mile run as a penalty.  No other rules.

One former team member recalls deciding that rather then knock herself out to get the ball first, she would make a maximum effort to take it away from the other player.  She knocked her down, grabbed her by the hair, and banged her head against the turf until she let go of the ball.  The other player ended up not having to do the penalty run--because she sustained a concussion that resulted in her having to drop the team entirely.

To paraphrase something Lucy Van Pelt once said, I thought sports were supposed to BUILD character, not tear it down.

[Parasaurolophus]

To paraphrase something Lucy Van Pelt once said, I thought sports were supposed to BUILD character, not tear it down.

They say that about pain, too, and it"s just as false. Crazy anecdote, though.