At some point in time we have all known someone who had controlling parents: A mother who insisted that her daughter be the homecoming queen and the valedictorian; a father who knew his son could be the starting quarterback and a national merit scholar.

Whenever one of these “dream-team” kids got a bad grade, you knew their folks were going to be calling up someone to give them an earful. Threatening some kind of lawsuit with some biased, racist, sexist justification. Blah blah blah. Makes your head spin to think about it, doesn’t it? Would you be at all surprised to find out that there are college students, men and women over 18 years of age, who have parents pulling this on professors? Sadly, it is true.

College is hard. Its supposed to be hard. Higher education is not an easy thing. It’s expensive, and the work load can be crushing in its severity, but it’s rewarding it its difficulty. No one just wants to walk in and out of college, kicking their heels and whistling dixie as they go from bird course to bird course. College is a crucible.
You go in a freshmen, ready to be molded and shaped, and you come out a hard-nosed, steely-eyed graduate. That’s the point. Who told these controlling nightmare parents that part of the college process involves harassing hard working professors for failing their lazy, good for nothing “dream-team” babies?

If the kid doesn’t do the work, then they deserve the failing grade. That is par for the course. Don’t cry about it to your mommy and daddy until they call the professor and bust a blood vessel threatening them with bodily harm. Grow up, deal with your failure, and take the class again.

Imagine how the professor feels when on the receiving end of such a tirade. Out of hundreds of students, just one wet behind the ears mamma’s boy doesn’t agree with the B- he got on his paper. Now said professor is dealing with a banshee warrior queen mom who is calling him day in and day out threatening him with bodily harm and lawsuits if her brilliant little boy’s grade isn’t raised to an A- so she can feel better about the little scholar she raised.

Parents do not belong in the college process. If you get a bad grade, chances are you earned it. Don’t whine to your folks about how judged you are or how mean the professor is, because if they try and fix it themselves you’re not only a failure in the classroom, but a failure at life.

Plus here is a fun thought for all of you hard working mama’s boys and daddy’s girls. What happens when your professors, who you have put on the receiving end of your parents tirades, make a note in your student files that you have “mentally unstable” parents? How do you think those transfer goals you’ve been dreaming about are going to go after that happens? Nothing says Ive League like super controlling parents and their cry baby children with pariah like delusions. Own up to your faults, and if you don’t do the work required to get a high grade then it’s your issue. Not your parents, and not the professor.

Update: this article has been replaced with the most recent version. 5:02 p.m. 9/29/2014.