A lot of parents see their kids as younger manifestations of themselves, so they take the kids achievements such as getting into a good school as validation for

A lot of parents see their kids as younger manifestations of themselves, so they take the kids achievements such as getting into a good school as validation for themselves (Good genetics, great parenting etc...) and feel the opposite if their kids fail to do so. This is the only explanation for going so out of the way to essentially "fake" achievement for the kids so you can look better.