New York State is raising the bar by making the Regents Examinations in 5 major subjects mandatory for EVERY child in order to get a High School Diploma. You would NOT believe the parents and others who railed against this as unfair and punative.
Oh, I would! My first year of teaching was in a Technical High School instructing two senior classes (and one Post-Secondary class for adults) and you would NOT believe just how many parent abdicate any responsibility for their kids' education. If asked if they'd be willing to try to help out a kid who wasn't doing well, their view was that it had to be the schools'/teachers' fault if their kid wasn't doing well, and they didn't have time/weren't being paid to do the schools'/teachers' jobs. Their only concern was that their kid pass and graduate regardless of their abilities. Sadly, a few of them got a rude awakening when their kids neither passed nor graduated.
I don't quite know where that attitude has come from, but it's something that's been steadily developing over the past 20 years, and as far as I'm concerned, (most) teachers who work in elementary and high school education these days are candidates for sainthhood when it comes to dealing with that type of parent. I thank God every day that I have an enjoyable and fulfilling job on the college level, that (most of) my students have been conscientious and well motivated, and that I rarely have to deal with parents.