if all parents were all a little more 'hands off' wouldn't the schooling system be more relaxed again

[southeastastra]

and all children would walk to their local schools to mix with children who all also lived in the local community.

and children could be free to learn at their own pace. can't help but feel that 'helicopter parenting' really has buggered up the system

No primary school we started using synthetic phonics in 1994/5 I was teaching Y3 at the time.

If all Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and Univeristies were uniform and equally good there would be no pressure. They are not. Once people can detect a difference between school and universities the comeptition starts to get into them. That leads to competition and helicopter parenting throughout the system.

Unfortunately the differences detected aren't always based in reality.