Admissions scandal exposes much that’s wrong with what we teach kids to value

Steve Lopez – Stanford was out of the question for me.

My grades were borderline and my parents didn’t make enough money to bribe anyone.

But even in my working-class family and at my less-than-stellar public high school, you had basically three choices: Enlist in the military, work at one of the local factories or go straight to college.

The Vietnam War was waning and the mills required hard labor. I know because I worked in one of them one summer and realized why everyone in my town had said loud and clear that if you’re not cut out for honest work and callused hands, go to college.

So I did. First to a community college, then to San Jose State University. My first semester, I wrote a check for $90. Not for a class. For the semester.

Today, the prices have gone up a bit.