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KANSAS CITY, Missouri – They studied until the wee hours of the morning and agonized line by line during their personal tests. They passed standardized tests three, four or five times to increase their scores. And last fall, after years of preparation and anxiety, students at Ewing Marion Kauffman School, a predominantly black school in Kansas City, applied to university, hoping that their work would bear fruit.
Kauffman's students viewed their charter school as an equalizer. The bright and sprawling campus opened in 2011 in the city's predominantly black and economically disadvantaged neighborhood. Nine out of 10 students receive a free or reduced lunch.
But this week, the biggest admissions scandal in the country reminded students in high schools across the country that there was nothing equal in the process.
[[[[To learn more about the Department of Justice's largest pursuit of college admissions.]
Kauffman's students intended to target some of the same schools where wealthy parents used bribes to bring in their children. This is what students call a hard lesson from the limits of meritocracy.
"It's frustrating that people can get their chances this way," said Khiana Jackson, a 17-year-old senior in Kauffman, who was accepted at the University of Chicago, but who is waiting to receive her best choices . "We can work from the fifth to the twelfth grade, every day, get in early, leave late, and it's still not enough."
"What does it take? You work every day, they always find a way, "she said.
The case has highlighted the racial and economic disparities that hinder access to higher education. With an extensive network of costly college preparation courses and advisers, wealthy students end up with a head start in increasingly fierce competition for limited places in the most prestigious universities.
In order to diversify their student body, universities recruit students of different racial and economic backgrounds. But these opportunities can have negative repercussions.
For color students who found their qualifications and questioned when they arrive on elite campuses, the case was daunting.
"This scandal has highlighted the fact that it is misplaced to focus on so-called affirmative action inequalities, rather than privileges," said Mark Stucker, Education Consultant. which animates a weekly podcast entitled Your College-Bound Kid, which focuses on access and equity. in education.
"It's the big parody of admission to the university. People with the means can tip the scales in their favor, "he said.
[[[[Learn more about the operation of the scheme, according to the authorities, bribes to the photos tampered with.]
In Kauffman, 39 seniors have already been accepted. But many are eagerly awaiting the stories of their dream schools and feel that the game may be stacked despite all their hard work.
Mrs. Jackson is still waiting to hear from her best choices, Princeton and Yale. If she does not go to the Ivy League, it would be hard to say if anything like the admissions scandal played a role. But the simple fact of knowing that "some people have come in terms of the amount they could give to someone is not fair," she said.
On Wednesday, Kauffman's elders spoke about their experiences and the consequences of the scandal. The obstacles they had to overcome were things that parents' children who were corrupt in schools could never imagine, they said.
Da'Shona Martin, 18, had to work at Panera Bread to help her family pay the bills. She must sometimes leave school early to be able to work on the bus. And when she works, she often comes home late at night and does not go to bed until 3 am, she added.
This leaves little time for homework, but she was able to be accepted at the Clark Atlanta University.
"While knowing that because of circumstances outside of school, you are doing your best to the best of your ability, but you also need to find some balance as an adult," he said. said Ms. Martin. "Knowing that these parents are throwing money at all these people and saying, 'Can you do this for my child' is a little discouraging. Some of us will probably have to work all their lives to see money like this. "
Jennifer McReynolds and her husband have prepared their son, Leonard, a senior from a Massachusetts prep academy, at the university.
Their son has applied to six universities, including Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. He took the ACT six times to increase his score and spent last summer studying for the test.
Mrs. McReynolds and her husband, owners of an Atlanta-based financial education company, sent a message to their son: As an African-American student, you have to be better.
"We have told him many times that to be recognized, you have to have an incredible work ethic and be above reproach," said McReynolds. "We often hear about getting out of business and that admission to the university is based on merit. What this story tells me is that the rules of the game are not equal in terms of race and wealth. "
In some cases, the parents were incarcerated for lying about their homes so that their children could attend high-performing schools.
Entering the university is only a challenge for many color students and their families. Paying for it is another.
Kielan Watson, 17, who plans to go to Vanderbilt University, said his father told him at a very young age that he should pay for his education alone. With this in mind, Watson said he was looking for scholarships whose application process is even more rigorous than college admissions, he said.
Watson is a finalist for a Gates Scholarship, which would be a complete journey, but it was difficult to apply.
"I spent many nights thinking," Is this the best version of myself that I can put here? ", Did he declare.
The fact that some students have to fend for themselves while the wealthy parents listed in the indictment were throwing money at allowing their children to access services was disrupting Kauffman's students. .
"I was upset that parents had spent millions of dollars paying these advisers to falsify the test reports. In the meantime, I know everyone here is looking for ways to find hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for the rest of our college education, "said Jacob Esquivel, 18, who plans to attend the University of Miami.
But in a strange way, the benefits of the wealth and privileges that some students might bring to college could give Ms. Jackson more confidence when she arrives on campus this fall, did she? she declared.
"I will not feel disadvantaged in relation to them because I know that I have character, that I have values that they do not have to develop", a- she declared. "They got things back. Having things to give back to you rather than having to win what you have, they create two different characters. "
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