Shame on the Cheaters

Let’s be honest, helping your kid get into college is nothing new. The rich and famous have been doing it for years and making large donations to colleges. Many of us that aren’t rich and famous do it too. We hire tutors, we send our kids to special SAT classes, we have their admissions essays read over. What about the parents that can’t afford the tutors and classes? Is that fair?

This latest college admission scandal that we have all heard about this week is different though because of the way it was done. Parents spent a great deal of money to have their children diagnosed with a learning disability so they could use extra accommodations to take the SATs. To a parent that has a child that actually has a learning disability this is like a slap in the face. To a parent that has spent years taking their child to doctors to be tested and retested and filled out endless questionnaires and checklists this is like a slap in the face. To a parent that has spent years worrying about their child with a learning disability and making sure they had the right accommodations this is like a slap in the face.

The parents involved in this scam should be ashamed. They have no idea what it’s like to have a child with processing deficits, ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, Dyscalculia or other learning disabilities. They have no idea of the effort these parents have gone through to make sure their child is receiving the accommodations they are entitled to.

Shame on the cheaters. I hope they are made to do many community service hours helping children with actual learning disabilities. Let them meet these kids, their parents, their teachers. Let them walk in their shoes.