The Ethics Alarms Apology Scale ranks apologies from 1-10, best to worst. A Category 1 apology is defined as,
“An apology motivated by the realization that one’s past conduct was unjust, unfair, and wrong, constituting an unequivocal admission of wrongdoing as well as regret, remorse and contrition, as part of a sincere effort to make amends and seek forgiveness.”
Here is what actress Felicity Huffman, one of the most prominent and famous among the wealthy glitterati accused of using their wealth to bribe and cheat their offspring into prestigious colleges, told the judge yesterday while pleading guilty to all charges:
I am pleading guilty to the charge brought against me by the United States Attorney’s Office.I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done, I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences that stem from those actions. I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the educational community. I want to apologize to them and, especially, I want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices to support their children and do so honestly. My daughter knew absolutely nothing about my actions, and in my misguided and profoundly wrong way, I have betrayed her. This transgression toward her and the public I will carry for the rest of my life. My desire to help my daughter is no excuse to break the law or engage in dishonesty.”
Yes, it’s a #1 apology, with this caveat. Apologies issued to judges in advance of sentencing cannot be assumed to be sincere, though they may be. Huffman has competent legal counsel, and was told exactly what the judge needed to hear in order to maximize her chances of a light sentence. There was also undoubtedly a plea deal with the prosecution, with exactly this kind of admission of guilt and expression of contrition a requirement.
Under these conditions, Huffman’s apology could easily be a #6….
6. A forced or compelled version of 1-4, when the individual (or organization) apologizing knows that an apology is appropriate but would have avoided making one if he or she could have gotten away with it
…or even a bottom of the barrel Category 10…
10. An insincere and dishonest apology designed to allow the wrongdoer to escape accountability cheaply, and to deceive his or her victims into forgiveness and trust, so they are vulnerable to future wrongdoing.
I am increasingly inclined to regard the Apology Scale. as inapplicable to apologies made in legal settings.
I also have grave doubts about whether her daughter “knew absolutely nothing” about what her mother did.
Ethics Alarms 
“I also have grave doubts about whether her daughter “knew absolutely nothing” about what her mother did.”
I wouldn’t be so sure of this. I have observed for a long time that many students who were given academic credentials they didn’t earn have no idea that they didn’t earn them. When they finally realize it, it can be really devastating to their self-worth.
How do I think this is possible? Well, many of the ‘admission coaches’ hired were granted the ability to give the ACT and SAT privately to their clients by the testing agencies (yeah, think about that for a minute). This is only allowed when the student has a ‘diagnosed learning disability’ like ADD or ADHD that allows them extra time and an alternate test setting.(you will see in a minute why that phrase is in quotes). The coaches would tell the parents to take their child to the doctor to get an ADD/ADHD diagnosis and a waiver so the kid could take the test in the private testing center. One coach told the parent ‘just tell your kid to act stupid when talking to the doctor’. They apparently had a 100% success rate in getting an ADD/ADHD diagnosis. How does this help? Well, the kid comes in to take the test, the ‘coach’ gives the kid the test and when the kid leaves, the coach throws the test in the trash. A separate test, filled out by an employee, is sent to the testing agency for scoring. The kid knows they took the test, they don’t know a different test was scored, they think they just did that well.
What does it look like from my end? Well, I see college students who apparently learned nothing in high school. They write nonsense on their tests and are then surprised when they get a failing grade. They claim they got A’s all through school, everything they did just came naturally. They didn’t have to study, they just put stuff down on tests and it was always right. They don’t want to accept that they were just ‘given’ grades in high school and they didn’t earn them.
A friend of mine in high school was on the basketball team. When his first trigonometry test was handed back, he got together with three cheerleaders from the class to go over the answers. One of the cheerleaders noticed “Look, we all got different answers for all the problems, but we all got the problems right. There must be 4 different right answers for each of the problems”. The three cheerleaders accepted this, but my friend did not. He knew his answers were right and theirs were not. He confronted the trig teacher about it and was told “All athletes get A’s in my class”. He was a basketball player, so he stopped studying for that class.
People don’t want to accept the fact that they didn’t work for what they have. They will rationalize a lot to avoid that truth. A friend of mine disputed that high schools give preferential treatment to students with wealthy/powerful parent because she was a cheerleader and class president, and all kinds of stuff in high school. She then asked how she was able to do all that? I said “because your dad was the mayor”. She vehemently disputed that being the mayor’s daughter would get her any preferential treatment.
1. I didn’t say I was sure. I said I had doubts.
2. This is exactly the kind of secret parents are bad at keeping. They WANT kid to know how much they sacrificed to get kids into school.
3. My father was painfully clear about my advantages (or not) in getting into college. He said that my record, while very good, put me in a large pool with no guarantee of admission, but that having a father who was an alum put me into smaller and more promising pool, with about 50-50 odds, a much better chance,
“My daughter knew absolutely nothing about my actions”
Didn’t know about them or didn’t know they were wrong? Which one is worse because I can believe the latter.
Huffman ‘only’ got her child a fraudulent test score. Her crime wasn’t nearly as involved as others, so I would think it is quite possible. I know more than one student whose parents got them diagnosed as ADD/ADHD just to get extra time on tests and didn’t tell the child (so the child wouldn’t tell anyone). The children eventually embraced their identity as ‘learning disabled’ and refused to tackle anything academically challenging ‘because of my learning disability’. It is very heartbreaking to see.
That’s entirely possible if the question required the student to produce a proof. Somehow, I get the feeling that isn’t the kind of class these cheerleaders were taking.
Wealth and power are reflected in both opportunity and in grades. Wife has been a high school teacher for over a decade, and dad retired after 30 plus years. It has been getting worse.
It is an open secret that the top 10% in high school are cheating, and a blind eye is being turned. It is amazing how those 10% also seem to have a lot of money.
All the surveys show that 97% ADMIT to cheating. Over 75% admit to cheating on tests. About 25% of college students never even look at their own test, they just copy the tests around them (we did a study).
I do not care that she is remorseful. If she is losing sleep over her actions, all I will say is, “good.” What I wish for with each and every parent who paid someone or an organization money so their child (I’d use spawn or brat, but will be nice) was admitted to a school they were unqualified to attend is the following:
a) jail time for the parent – doesn’t have to be lengthy, but a few months satisfies
b) a full-out IRS audit – go back through 10 years of returns – make some people really sweat, pay fines for any irregularities
c) each convicted parent must create a scholarship fund equal to the amount they spent to get their child into college. If Huffman spent $15,000, then it works likes this… two $5,000 scholarships given out each year for three years. Huffman has to read through each application, meet the face-to-face with the finalists (just so she knows who it is that needs/deserves support to pay for school). Pick the winners and then contact (meaning call and speak with) those who were denied. She must do this for three years – her work will be overseen by the sentencing judge and approved annually.
I know it will never happen. It’s probably outside the scope of what the legal system can do, but it pleases me. And FYI… Loughlin supposedly spent $500,000! For me that means five $20,000 scholarships for five years. Same conditions as Huffman. Now I’m really smiling.
I’m afraid I have to agree, Jack. I want to believe she is sincere, but there are too many good reasons (from her perspective) why she might not be, but must say the right words in order to mitigate the consequences. I can’t find a way around it.
I keep looking for clues, or reasoning, to achieve clarity. Alas, both are elusive. It’s easy to think that a truly contrite person would just throw themselves on the mercy of the court, but a competent lawyer would never allow that, nor should they.
There’s just no way to be sure.
Well she pretty much did throw herself on the mercy of the court.
“I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences that stem from those actions.”
Points in favor of this being a Category 1 apology are that she makes no excuses or pleas for mercy.
Well, no, not really. There is apparently a plea bargain, so that sort of precludes “mercy of the court,” since the parties have agreed to the settlement without the court having to pass judgment or sentence.
I agree with you that lack of excuses and a plea for leniency is a positive.
As a former prosecutor, I’m inclined to agree with Jack…she’s a busted, motivated actress with competent counsel. However, it was awfully good. I guess my expectation bar is too low. Thanks a lot Jussie Smollett!
You don’t know how hard it was not referencing Jussie in that post!
Now here is an apology: https://twitter.com/isamuel/status/1126881547196555264