Fort Lee Transcript Controversy: I Blame the Parents

By now you know of the recent scandal in Fort Lee. Somebody--a teacher, a guidance counselor, an administrator--has been altering students' transcripts to get them into better colleges. Cs and Bs became Bs and As, while Ds and Fs vanished altogether. The principal has been suspended pending an investigation, and parents are outraged. But, at the end of the day, it's the parents that I blame.

Granted, they may not have been the ones doing the altering. But I absolutely blame the culture of educational entitlement that parents have created. It seems as though there are a lot of parents, particular in upper middle class and wealthy towns, who feel that getting into a great college is their child's right. They pay out the nose for private college counselors and, no doubt, drive their kid's guidance counselor and teachers crazy.

Isn't there anything you can do for my little Susie?

Why did she only get a B in your class? She can't get into Harvard with a B in History.

Well, maybe Susie isn't cut out for Harvard. Maybe she's not cut out for Rutgers, or William Paterson. Maybe, just maybe, orange spandex a tray full of overrated wings are in her future.

I can almost guarantee that the parents of those students with the altered transcripts were total pains who felt their kids were entitled to get into whatever school they wanted. Whatever happened to kids getting into the colleges the old fashioned way (hard work and studying)? And whatever happened to parents siding with schools and teachers?