Evelyn Jiang, Period 7, 3/6/2023

            People avoid things all the time. I avoid checking my chemistry grade, my friends
sometimes avoid their messages, and my brother avoids talking about his future. They’re all
excusable to some degree, but one thing I don’t think we should turn a blind eye to is nepotism.
Nepotism runs so rampant in almost every aspect of our lives - in academia, media, jobs - but I
find that there is so little coverage on it.
            Tik Tok calls people who have a familial connection to whatever industry they work in
“nepo-babies”. Recently, I went down the rabbit hole of how these “nepo-babies” reacted to
being labeled as such. The responses varied from fully denying any sort of privilege to
acknowledging the upper-hand that they got. Of course, the media clowned on those who refused
to admit that they had advantages, but I think it goes deeper than just people being out of touch
with reality.
            As someone who greatly believes in climbing the ladder through merit, I also had a
disdain for those who had the privilege of getting what they wanted with significantly less effort.
How is that fair? Why do I have to work twice as hard to get the same results? In my middle
school years, I labeled these people as untalented and spoiled. Money can’t buy happiness, but it
sure could buy an easier path to what you want. Yet as I talked badly about people in much better
financial situations than me, I also refused to recognize my privilege. My parents never got me a
job with their connections or paid off a college to accept me, but what about the years of tutoring
for SHSAT? Or the 10 years of piano lessons? Even if I wasn’t rolling in money, I had the
advantage of academic support and even if I didn’t recognize it then, it set me up to prioritize my
education. I don’t think my situation comes even close to being nepotism, but nepotism in a
nutshell is privilege with connections.
            Additionally, some of the nepo-babies have argued that their family simply only got their
foot in the door, but their talent and effort is the reason they stayed and succeeded in the industry.
Not that I’m defending nepotism, but I agree with this point. In fact, I can think of multiple
instances where I was in the same situation, like knowing a club president well and later getting a
leadership position. Of course, I didn’t freeload off it just for the college app but in retrospect,
simply knowing someone in power helped me get elected. But then again, I’m biased in this
opinion.
            However, I don’t think nepotism should be ignored, especially from the people who have
benefited from it. I think it’s harmful to assert that they are self-made, especially when their
family was a big reason for their success. People who aren’t in these situations may blame
themselves for the lack of accomplishment, because if this person can why can’t they? The
playing field is and never will be level, and there is no denying that.
            Am I hypocritical for hating nepotism and then benefiting from it on a smaller scale?
Maybe. But I think the acknowledgement makes all the difference, and although we can never
fully erase blatant favoritism, more people need to speak up on it.