Ryan Mecca | Felicity Huffman and 13 Others to Plead Guilty in College Admissions Scandal

         On Monday, Hollywood actress Felicity Huffman and 13 of 33 other parents/coaches charged in the college admissions scandal have pleaded guilty for bribing colleges and test administrators. Huffman admits to paying a test proctor $15,000 to ensure that her daughter would get a higher SAT score, a plan that failed miserably. She apologizes publically saying that "[her] desire to help [her] daughter is no excuse to break the law or engage in dishonesty," and that her daughter was not aware of the bribe. Huffman and the others who pleaded guilty will see less jail time than those who claim innocence.
         The college admissions scandal has gone on for some time now, but recently it has been picking up speed, and the number of students who have been punished has grown. While often these bribes seem crazy and risky to us, it can show other celebrities that they can't just do anything with their money because I'm sure that there are other wealthier people who have considered bribes, regardless of their going through with it. The author, Kate Taylor, uses the example of Felicity Huffman to show that even the people who give the smallest bribes will be punished and that there is no excuse for this law-breaking behavior. This can also show us as students that there is nothing that can make up for a lack of hard work; you have to work for your grades!
         The parents who have pleaded guilty understand that they will be caught regardless of cover-ups and they have no reason to act as though they did not commit these crimes. In a similar way, Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal decided that he would rather resign as president than face impeachment. The Watergate scandal occurred when several people from Nixon's administration snuck into the Democratic headquarters and stole information; after being caught, Nixon claimed to not have known anything about the plans. Once Congress discovered that Nixon had a tape recorder in his office, his removal from office was inevitable.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/us/felicity-huffman-guilty.html