Educação Americana: Fraude e Privilégio

This is a half movie / half documentary hybrid which delves into the college admissions scandal that occurred a couple of years ago now where the wealthy used their fame and fortune to secure a spot for their children to get into an Ivy League college.

I wasn't too familiar with the whole story before watching this and I believe it does a really good job breaking down the events that lead to the many arrests which followed.

The status that Ivy League colleges in the U.S. have established for themselves over the decades has placed an insurmountable amount of pressure on kids who want to be a part of that as they feel they won't get anywhere in life without it. When you see people with wealth that cheat the system for their kids over the much more deserving it really does strike a chord and shows how broken and unfair it all is.

The film displays different perspectives from people directly involved and also outsiders to really flesh out the internal workings of how Rick Singer was able to orchestrate his scheme of getting the undeserving into extremely competitive colleges. Any dialogue heard during the movie portions are transcribed from real wiretap recordings and it's really surprising to hear what some people will say over the phone.

One of the key things to take away from the film is that it's far more important that you or your child gets a quality education as opposed to going somewhere specific to be used as a badge of honour for bragging rights.

For those that might need a real knock into reality, the rich really have it good. Mobility, comfort, and most importantly...power. I laugh when low wage sycophants speak about how tough it is for rich people and that their problems are no different than the lower class schlub like me. No. No. No. When my car ultimately breaks down, that is going to be a stress in my life. When they have a car that breaks down, they can saunter over to the BMW dealer and get a new one, no problem. And most importantly, they can easily downsize their home living situation if they wanted to. My landlord doesn't care whether I can afford the 100 dollar hike in my rent I am consistently getting each year, provided they don't decide to just sell the house under me and really leave me up a creek. What I am saying is, rich people do not have the same problems I would have.

In turn, this is the moral of this story. Mikey Moneybags wants his average kid to go to a prestigious university but doesn't want to spend Dr. Dre money and spend upwards of 30 million at the problem. So he went to Rick Singer, who had figured out a perfect system that worked just like a huge donation but for pennies on the dollar. It was elaborate and requires a lot of people willing to risk their credibility and livelihoods on the promises of some good side scratch. Singer knew how to exploit pressure points, and man he was good at it.

The nice thing about the documentary, which was expertly played by Matthew Modine, was how Singer would assure his co-conspirators results. He never had a shred of doubt until the FBI met him at a hotel and basically gave him an ultimatum to comply or crumble. We all know how cowardly "entrepreneurs" will quickly fold to save themself.

Much of the aftermath was something I was well aware of, but like with any result...the punishment didn't fit the crime. People got off with light sentences and small fines, which is nothing for these people. A guy stealing a television gets more time. And this is where I wish the documentary had not pulled punches. Justice was not served. These people will get to move on, for they might have to sell a car or two or downgrade from a two million dollar home to a one million dollar home. Worst of all, their own greed kept deserving people from actually making it to college, some of them possibly not privileged. The documentary also skipped the biggest point...the American public was also subsidizing these schemes.

Yup, they conveniently forgot to mention that the "donations" they made were going to a 501c and technically they could write it off. They could probably even write off the main payments to Singer as well. So they were gaming the system and gettin taxpayer money to help with the sting of the price tag. Way to go for forgetting that detail documentary makers. Like I said, I could try to steal a few televisions from Walmart and could get a worse sentence. Let's not even talk about the fact the universities suffered no consequences, for I am sure they loved the fact so many rich people are cheating to get into their school.

Why do I keep watching these? It feels like justice is never served in these situations.

"Back doors", "side doors", and endless loopholes - this documentary shows how the world is just an infinite playground for the wealthy. One of the unique elements to this doc is the recreation of conversations which were achieved through wiretapping. These conversations are... disgusting, to say the least. This format really allows you to see just how culpable and guilty these people are. The fact they're on tape admitting to knowingly doing wrong is sickening.

The sentences at the end are, of course, a joke. Without enforcement, this signals there will be a continuation of such practices in the future. But that's how it is in America. A high profile bust with lots of glitz and cameras, followed by an anemic jail sentence. Something's clearly broken here.

Overall, excellent documentary. I'm not usually a big fan of dramatic reenactments in this format - but it worked very well this time.

I just finished this documentary, and thought it was very well done. What is atrocious, however, is that the "back door" donations (parents donating multi-millions directly to colleges to get their kids in) is apparently a legal and accepted practice. This has to stop, as it's really no more ethical than the Operation Varsity Blues scandal. Colleges can make money from their sports teams, donors who are truly *donating* without expecting something in return, as well as any government grants. That's IT. Routine auditing needs to be conducted on the admissions process, and the bribe donations that are deemed legal need to be exposed and ended.

Before watching this, I, of course, was familiar with the scandal and who the big players were, but I didn't know the intricacies of the scam. The ONE person I feel sorry for is the former Stanford sailing coach (who agreed to take part in this documentary). Sure, what he did was technically wrong, but he didn't do it to financially benefit HIMSELF, he did it to benefit Stanford's sailing team. I can see the difference, and am glad he has overcome this and appears to be doing well. As far as the others (with the exception of the kids who had no knowledge of the scam), I think they got off way too easily. However, their reputations (as well as their kids') have been permanently damaged, and that might negatively affect them more than any fine or prison sentence. They have huge egos, so that likely hits them where it hurts the most.

I highly recommend this program to those who are interested in true crime and the exposure of injustice.

This story made me sad, frustrated, and furious all at once.