Earlier this week, the Department of Justice sparked a national frenzy when it revealed the existence of a sprawling college admissions scandal. At least six prestigious universities were involved in flagrant and widespread bribery, records falsification, cheating on entrance tests, and more.
There is much to condemn here, on the part of the parents engaged in bribery, the sleazoid middlemen and the collegiate staff who either participated or were asleep at the switch. Yet, weirdly, the default response has been to paint the scandal as a sweeping indictment of American society. As one Washington Post op-ed put it, “The college admissions scandal isn't fair. Nothing about our social mobility system is.” Affirmative action advocates insisted that a susceptibility to rampant fraud somehow argues for giving admissions offices more discretion to admit students on the basis of race.
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