When I was a public school student, back in the days of dinosaurs and eight-tracks, I wrote an essay on how the education system would run much more smoothly if it got rid of all the students.

It was a well-argued disquisition, but for some reason nobody picked up on the idea. It now appears that was for the best given the results of a new study that suggests the biggest problem facing teachers isn’t students, it’s parents.

The study, in the psychology journal Anxiety, Stress & Coping, questioned more than 100 German school teachers with and average tenure of 20 years. It found that the most pressure faced by teachers came not from administrators, colleagues or students. The biggest boot heels crushing teachers were those of over-bearing parents.

The study’s author suggested teachers should not try to meet the expectations of every parent.

“Teachers should focus on their students’ expectations and needs and get support from colleagues if they feel overwhelmed, but not try to make overly demanding parents happy.”