Paying The Price I
Students question admissions fairness after cheating scandal
t has long been said that “money can’t buy happiness,” and the same reality is true for those who are involved with manipulating the education system. After news of the major college admissions scandal broke out in March, questions arose regarding how frequently unqualified students are admitted into competitive schools. When federal prosecutors charged 50 individuals in a complex college admissions scheme that involved bribery and fraud, the Department of Justice deemed it as the “largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted.” Thirty-three parents, including actresses Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were accused of bribery to help facilitate their children’s admission into highly ranked universities “The parents’ bribes were disguised as ‘donations’ to the Key Worldwide Foundation, which purported ‘to provide education that would normally be unattainable to underprivileged students, not only attainable but realistic.” When the findings of this investigation made the news, millions became angered with the fact that economically privileged individuals once again had the upper hand in society. Students who devote their time to their academics and extracurriculars to enhance their chances of attending
a university, as well as student athletes who train hours after school with goals of recruitment from college athletic directors were especially outraged. They realized that these privileged children could have easily taken their spots at the university of their dreams. “I just think that students who work hard are more deserving than those who take the easy way out,” junior Alyssa Goldfarb said. “With people like Olivia Jade [Giannulli], who even admitted in her YouTube video that she doesn’t want to be at college to receive an education, but she just wants to go to party at football games, it’s so unfair.” The outbreak of an immense, nationwide scandal brings attention to whether such corruption takes place within our own school community. The term “cheating” can be very broad. While some may define cheating as copying homework from a friend, others may think of cheating as bribing admission boards with large sums of money. Most students are aware that cheating is immoral. However, cheating is most often on a smaller scale and is a common practice for many students. The extent of what counts as cheating is also not clear cut. Some consider actions such as getting a private tutor or hiring a college counselor an unfair advantage over
those students who can’t afford one. Students and parents in today’s competitive, goal-oriented society push themselves and their children to perform to the best of their ability in all aspects of their lives. The intensified desire and expectation to go to college drives more students to cheat to reassure their success. “I think that with all of the competition that it takes to get into colleges these days, people have gotten to the point where they’ll do anything to keep a 4.0 GPA,” junior Seth Klein said. The Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics found that 95% of students have admitted to cheating sometime in their academic career. However, there are various downfalls to committing to a school that a student is not truly qualified for. “My opinion is that you work for it,” guidance counselor Gerald Turmaine said. “That’s the best way to go because if you get into college by cheating your way through it, then it’s not really real. You didn’t do that on your merits, but you did it on how sneaky you were or how savvy you
SINKING salaries
F
lorida is sinking in the national teacher salary ranking. According to the National Education Association’s annual report on teacher salaries, the Sunshine State has dropped from 45th in 2018 to 46th in the United States in 2019. The average salary of a teacher in Florida is $47,267, with a starting salary around $37,405. It is one of the lowest in the country, as it lags below the 2017 Nationwide annual salary of $59,660 in 2016-2017 by more than $10,000. “Obviously when you’re not paid the amount that you feel that you should be paid or you’re not paid as much as teachers in other states, you feel undervalued and under appreciated,” English and teaching academy teacher Felicia Burgin said. “By not giving teachers the pay they should get, the lack of respect is shown.” A teacher’s salary comes from funds provide through the state government, along with local property taxes. “With the poor pay, growing healthcare costs, high cost of living, and increase in prices, a teacher’s salary is not sufficient enough to live on, especially if they have multiple children,” U.S. history and sociology teacher Michael Marino said. “I can live off of my salary because I have no children and my wife works as well; for teachers with kids, the pay is a little
harder to live on.” According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, about one in five teachers have a second job. “At the beginning of my teaching career, I had to be a bartender to get paid more,” advanced placement government teacher Jeffrey Foster said. “Half the teachers I know work two jobs. The salary is barely enough to pay the bills.” The Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution reported that even with more qualified teachers, teacher pay dropped 5% in the last decade. Additionally, studies from the University of Pittsburgh and University of Tennessee, among others presented, show that a low salary serves as one of the main factors for the shortage of teachers available to teach in classrooms across the nation. Halfway through the 2018-2019 school year, The Florida Education Association and the statewide teachers union reported that there are 2,217 teaching positions available for teachers in Florida, which is an increase of about 700 from last year. The shortage forces schools to hire non-certified teachers. The national non-profit, non-partisan Learning Policy Institute predicts that unqualified or under-qualified teachers are teaching hundreds of thousands of students across the nation.
Average salaries for Florida teachers amongst lowest in the United States
“Some teachers at this school and at other schools don’t teach,” junior Emalie Hull said. “They make you learn the material by yourself through videos and by reading the textbook. That’s not really helpful because students need to be taught the material through their teachers, so they can ask questions and receive answers.” Teachers not only work during school hours, but they work unpaid hours before and after school. “The teaching program that I’m in at school helped me see how much teachers have to do,” President of Future Educators of America Hailey Carpenter said. “Many teachers come early to school to prepare
12 News • College Admissions Scandal & Florida Teacher Pay
were.” In addition, attending a school that one is not academically ready to handle will prove to be a challenge when they are unable to keep pace with peers who got into the school on their own merit. “It’s going to come to a point where now you are applying for a job,” BRACE adviser Ana Farrand said. “How do you begin to cheat for that job? For example, Google only has one position. How are you going to cheat your way into getting that position?” Major results of the surfacing of the college admission scandal are increased discussions in what should be done to minimize the presence of cheating in schools, as well as how the students caught in the scandal should be punished. Debates and discussions over college cheating scandals have grasped the attention of people nationwide, with both students and parents asking the question: Is it possible to get into college solely based on merits? Story by Zoe Gordon and Katrina White; photo illustration by Nyan Clarke
for class, stay late to finish grading and some are sponsors for after-school school clubs. Teachers are such a necessity in our society; without them, nobody would be able to do their jobs because teachers are the ones that teach them how to do it.” For most teachers, their passion of teaching is what keeps them going. The love of building relationships with kids, making an impact for the future, helping children when they need it and having the ability to see students succeed is what makes them continue teaching. Although money is a major factor, the teacherstudent bonds created are often what keeps a teacher seated at their desk. Story by Elama Ali; photo illustration by Nyan Clarke