Dry question: have you seen the docufilm Operation Varsity Blues: Scandal in College?
We do, and we have drawn a moral from it, our moral, which we will tell you at the end, first it is right to give some hints about the story told on and by Netflix.
It is the story of Rick Singer and of an artfully constructed “network” made up of coaches, technical assistants, school administrators, supervisors and teachers, used (we tell you frankly) to get the children of rich families into prestigious universities without merit. The docufilm, directed by Chris Smith, continues the trend already undertaken by Daniel Golden on “forcing” college admissions with the book “The Price of Admission” by Daniel Golden.
The documentary was made and reconstructed thanks to telephone interceptions and statements made by Singer himself to the federal police, a story that uncovers a world that was partly already known. In 2011, Rick Singer became the number one private college consultant in Sacramento and, student after student, established the Life Coaching Foundation, with which he would make a million-dollar business.
We don’t want to spoil the story, but you get the focus: “the entrance to college”, not in just any institution, but in colleges like Yale, Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, USC.
What we noticed is that the documentary conveys the idea that college education as a product to be bought. The families involved buy, in fact, a title, a name, for their children, as if saying “I’m a Yale student” is worth more than being. How often and willingly parents, young people, let themselves be carried away only by the prestige of a university, by the “name” and not by the substance. What matters, at least for us, is the opportunity that a college can give you, the course of study, the sports path, the aptitudes and possibilities offered regardless of the size of the college.
Operation Varsity Blues brings out the darker side of admissions, you just have to pay to enter, but in reality this is not the case, or rather, it does not have to be so. Behind it there is a world of commitment, study, application and determination. It is not necessarily necessary to pursue the prestige of the University, what you have to look at are the possibilities: the rest, your own history, your own future you can and must build yourself. At Sportlinx360, we do just that, screening all opportunities based on the student’s profile. Our task is to support the students in choosing, starting and continuing their American experience.
Because, let’s face it, realizing yourself, making your dreams come true with your own strength has a completely different taste!
