Should the students who benefited from deceit be expelled?

[RobinA]

59. Absolutely Not

We aren't talking about people who jumped the list for a heart transplant here. People have been getting into elite colleges by means other than merit since the first elite college was invented. What's next, yanking degrees from everybody who got in because they were a legacy? Their parents were high-powered and said pretty please? Someone donated a field house? A lab? They were the illegitimate son of George Washington? Bogus "community projects" on the application? SAT prep? Professional help writing the essay?

Surprise! Getting into an elite college often (usually) involves a lot more factors than merit. Start with whatever the definition of "merit" is at any given moment. It's a fact. Try to make the process more focused on integrity, but let's keep the focus on real problems. Or, here's a thought, let's be a little less impressed with where people went to school. I think we can all name people who really aren't that smart who went to elite schools. [cough, cough] And if you regularly work with people who went to elite schools, you probably already know from personal experience that the actual quality of the graduates is all over the map. Let's adjust perception to reality and move on.