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How Privilege Can Be Used For Good
The only way to change the world is to see it as it is.
By Evan Forster
Suddenly privilege has become a horrible thing to be associated with.
I am a private educational consultant. My clients pay for support through the college admissions process; often, they are quite privileged, but unlike the students in the recent Felicity Huffman / Lori Loughlin college admissions scandal, I never do my clients’ work for them. I never make “getting in” to the college of his or her choice easier. Instead, I make it harder, demanding that each one be the leader and author of his or her own admissions process.
Recently, a colleague who also provides these services expressed an existential crisis. He had received a scathing email from a beloved professor who condemned him for helping the rich and wealthy attain even more privilege through elite college admissions.
“How do I make sense of this for myself?” he asked. “How would you respond?”
My response was simple. I have no guilt helping the privileged. I’m not Rick Singer, the con artist who has for years been helping rich families get their undeserving children into elite colleges. I am not just helping the privileged attain brand-name university status. I intentionally help them…
