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OPINION: Why these pushy celeb mums deserve their possible 20-year prison sentences

It's the scandal that has good parents everywhere seething with fury

For some people it’s not enough to be rich and famous. They have to cheat the system as well.

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On the details presented that’s what actresses Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman are alleged to have done in trying to secure their daughters’ a place at some of America’s most elite universities including Yale, Georgetown and Stanford.

The Full House and Desperate Housewives actresses are among 50 parents and coaches at the centre of the $25 million exam cheating scandal which saw them charged with paying bribes to get higher scores or a faked athletic resumes to secure their child’s place.

If convicted, the pair, and others found guilty, should receive strong sentences. Two top criminal lawyers have said they could face a maximum of 20 years in jail for money laundering, mail and wire fraud offences.

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Felicity in happier times (Credit: Getty Images)
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The courts need to come down hard on those who’ve attempted to cheat a system which advances their own children at the expense of others. We all want our children to have the best possible chance to succeed but paying to promote our children’s interests is an insidious and criminal extension of helicopter parenting. Rather than simply hovering, these parents – if proven guilty – have committed Black Hawk Down-style parenting, obliterating all pathways and principles to buy their children opportunities they may not deserve.

Such choices are not simply ambitious, they represent appallingly flawed values and a grievous lack of integrity. Laughlin and Huffman’s daughters have already won life’s lottery by being born in a free and fair country to parents who are blessed with wealth and connections. That they might benefit from being further boosted because of their parents’ alleged decision to propel them by nefarious means is a travesty to all of us.

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The star leaves court (Credit: MEGA)
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(Credit: MEGA)
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(Credit: MEGA)

It insults the institutions tasked with educating our children.

It makes a mockery of a system that should be governed by merit not money.

It undermines the opportunities of other children who seek out an education based on their talent and hard work.

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Shockingly, it is also a betrayal of the very children they’re attempting to promote.

Research tells us that children who are advanced beyond their natural abilities by extreme tutoring or insider connections often drop out of university anyway.

But far more worrying than the future careers of these young people is the potential loss of trust in their parents and the criticism and gossip to which they’ll forever be exposed. Reports suggest that in many instances the children were unaware their parents had paid the bribes.

If their parents are convicted, Huffman’s daughter’s Sofia, 18, and Macy, 16, and Loughlin’s daughters Olivia, 19, and Isabella, 20, will not only have to come to terms with their parents’ disgrace.

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They’ll have to live with knowing their parents had little faith in their natural abilities.

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Lori won’t be smiling now (Credit: Getty Images)

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