I have a friend who is a teacher, and he complains all the time about parents who call him to discuss a grade he has given their child. Not to ask a question, or to understand the feedback, but to litigate it. The strategy, he tells me, is to tire him out with relentless emails and requests for a meeting, dramatic backstories that explain the recent poor performance, and reminders of the calamitous effects of a slightly lower GPA on college prospects.

Whenever he would tell me one of these stories, I would always nod along in full agreement. Helicopter parents, am I right? I would shout in sympathy. All of this coddling is ruining the country! All of which is true, and all of which I believed with bedrock certainty.