When parents rig to get their children into the ‘right’ schools

Shot of a young female student sitting on the floor feeling depressed outside on campus. [Photo, File]

If you have been following the news, you might be familiar with a certain scandal presently unfolding in the US with the FBI referring to it as the Varsity Blues. What has happened is that some famous people who include TV stars, coaches and exam proctors used bribes and loopholes to get their children into Ivy Leagues. It is amusing to hear what these people did, some doctored SAT scores, others deployed Photoshop to create fake incidences of their children’s involvement in sports all because they want to win the award of “parent to a child in right school.”

Felicity Huffman, she of the Desperate Housewives fame has been accused of conspiring to pay $15,000 (Sh1.5 million) to an organisation that facilitated cheating on her older daughter’s SATs. The organisation is said to have arranged for a proctor to college the daughter’s answers in hopes of getting into a better college. Felicity and her buddies are not alone – they should know we in Kenya have been rigging outcomes for long. We not only rig elections, we also rig our children’s results to ensure they get into what we think are the ‘right’ schools or courses. During my schooling days, I recall a few students who found their way into our school through what we called the back door.

Backdoor’ students

You see, I went to a good school (in certain quarters we like to say the best school) which was dominated by the best and brightest from across the country.

Occasionally, some ‘backdoor’ students would find their way into these hallowed grounds - some through connections, others we believe through the exchange of cash and favours.

These” backdoors often” stuck out like sore thumbs and looking back both the teachers and their fellow students never hesitated in reminding them that they were privileged brats who were assumed to have ‘grabbed’ the slot of a needy student. Some ‘backdoor’ students braved all of this while others just exited. Speaking to several students today, I am told that backdoors still go through horrific experiences, so here a few things for parents to consider if they want to use the backdoor route for their kids.

For starters, parents need to be completely honest about their children’s true academic and intellectual abilities.

There are a few ways to determine this. An examination of the parents’ academic history can help predict which way the daftness pendulum is going to go. If both parents of the child featured frequently and prominently in at the bottom of the class in their school days (despite having hours of studies and the best facilities), then it is highly likely that their offspring will suffer same fate.

It is also quite easy to determine if a child is genius material or is bordering on the daft side of things in their formative years. A child known to take years to do the simple one plus one (and who has not been diagnosed with any learning disability) will most likely struggle with calculus later in life - though of course miracles have been known to happen.

If you notice your child is not academically gifted, there is no use in using your resources in hauling them to a top league school so that you can earn the bragging rights among family and friends. If your child on a random day is D material, no need pumping money into getting him into The Alliances, Starehe and Mangus of the world. Invest in helping your child discover and harness his true skills and potential.

There are some misguided folks who only see the good side of the Ivy League schools - the bragging rights they confer and the so-called guarantees of performance and jobs that they come with.

What no one tells them is that those institutions are often dens of intense competition, which sometimes gets brutal and ugly. Any child who finds themselves in such spaces must have some brawn to weather the onslaught of competition and the backlash that comes to those who do not make the cut.

A ‘backdoor’ who lacks the grades must have some other compensatory attributes like an ability to share goodies with fellow students, participating in cool extra-curricular activities or just being nice and likeable. Let us just say it is suicidal to send a daft, socially maladjusted child to a top league school. The other students will make mince of the entitled brat, sometimes causing untold suffering and misery. So, any parent using the backdoor route might ensure their child can handle the pressure and provide them with a thick skin and a stash of cash and goodies to win over the opposition.

Parents of backdoor students must also butter up the teachers and support staff to ensure their children enjoy their ill-acquired position.

Extend bribery

Many true teachers operate on some moral high ground where they believe that only those who have sweated and toiled and produced the right grades should benefit from the finest of the competitive Ivy League schools.

Some are bitter about their lives and harbour resentment towards anyone (and their children) who seem to waltz through life with school slots being handed to them on a silver platter.

So, if your child is a backdoor then you must extend some form of ‘bribery’ to the teachers, watchmen and cooks so that they go easy on your offspring.

At the end of the day, deploying the backdoor card on a child who lacks the brains and temperament to excel in an Ivy League is simply not worth it.

Such a child should pambana na hali yake in the right schools - after all there are other things one can use to earn bragging rights. We also know many of our famous successful persons have not been anywhere near Ivy League schools - and based on what we see here; some have not been to school.

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