Good read. Your story took me back to a helicopter parent to his college son. The father called me to tell me that I "had to give" his son a B+ or greater in my class to bring up his overall GPA.He was not doing well in all of his classes. His son had already failed the writing class the semester before with another professor. Of course, I was able to speak to my student's father with my student's permission. Student's have to sign off when they enter as freshmen. As I do every semester with my students, I told him that professors do not determine student grades, students do. I also told the father to ask his son about all of his absences and missed assignments. The student failed the course again. I got the sense he didn't want to be a college student. He dropped out the following semester. Not a good use of tuition dollars and an unhappy student who could not meet his helicopter parent's expectations and career choice. Very sad and not uncommon among helicopter parents - dictating grades and demanding grade changes for their unhappy children. Like you ask - are helicopter parents helping their kids?