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July 25, 2008 11:17:41 AM CDT

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In Spain, Parents Divorce to Get Kids Into Top Schools

Posted Mar 19, 08 3:56 PM CDT in World 

(Newser) – Spanish couples will do anything to get their kids into top schools—including break up, the Guardian reports. Thanks to a point-based admissions system that favors children of single parents, Spain has seen a staggering spike in divorces, suspiciously filed just ahead of the upcoming application deadline. Judges think many are “fake” splits, designed to net the all-important points.

Some parents have even hired private eyes to snoop on rivals they suspect of cheating. “The philosophy is ruthless,” said one such detective. “It is ‘If I shoot those above me on the list, then my child gets in.’” In Andalusia, authorities got 731 complaints of application duplicity. In 26 cases, supposedly divorced parents were still living together.

Source Guardian (UK)

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Children read at the library of Nuestra Senora de los Desamparados school in Noblejas, Spain, on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008.   (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
A schoolboy reads at the library of Nuestra Senora de los Desamparados school in Noblejas, Spain, on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008.   (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
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