WWDFS: The college scandal hits close to home

My husband and I are both graduates of Stanford University, though the university we went to bears little resemblance to today’s Stanford. I was in one of the last classes admitted under “Dean Fred”—the amazing Fred Hargadon who knew that although test scores are nice, a truly great student body is made up of diverse, passionate people who are….a little bit weird.

Today’s New York Times featured Stanford student Yusi Zhao, whose parents paid $6.5 million to get her into Stanford,.

You know how you read stories and they’re just stories, and then you read a story and something really hits home?

This did it for me:

• Zhao is in the Stanford class that my son would have been in.
• My son got higher test scores than she did. (They published hers; his are a state secret!)
• My son did nothing in high school that was aimed at impressing Stanford. He did cool, amazing things that were an expression of who he is. She engineered her way in with precision.
• My son did not bribe anyone; my son was not admitted. She paid, and was admitted. Her parents protest that they thought they were donating, but even in that case, WWDFS? (What Would Dean Fred Say?)

Wherefore art thou, Dean Fred?

I realize that there are other reasons that my son isn’t at Stanford. There were legions of kids with great scores who applied and didn’t get in. But it really makes me wonder: Which kid’s place did this young woman take? How many brilliant kids is Stanford rejecting to make room for kids whose parents will build them a new building?

And it makes me wonder even more:

• If Stanford is full of kids like this, why would anyone want to go there?
• If Stanford is full of kids like this, why would anyone want to teach there?
• If Stanford is full of kids like this, why should any decent kid apply?

If it wasn’t glaringly apparent already, it is now: Elite universities are no longer places where intelligent and creative people should want to be, whether as students, parents, or faculty. They are all about making money for themselves.

Certainly, there were dull rich kids at Stanford when I was there. There were kids who were there just to please their pushy parents. There were the kids of celebrities, who may well have paid to get in.

But for the most part, the student population was made of kids who had something just a little bit unusual on top of their test scores. A common conversation that Dean Fred students would have was, “So, why do you think you got in?”

I heard lots of reasons, from “I started a successful company when I was 14” to “I was homeless and a teacher took me in after seeing some drawings I made.”*

These days, it seems, the answer to that question would be obvious:

“Why am I at Stanford? Oh, well, my parents paid to get me in.”

What Would Dean Fred Say?

Um… Go to Cal?