It is not clear to me where you draw the line between supportive and engaged and "hothousing" parents. Very parents think *they* are hothousing.
Is the child within their normal developmental arc? Is the child suffering psychological distress from parental over-involvement? Etc.
Jon said it very succinctly.
A school system like Lexington/Cupertino/Palo Alto can be a great school for a child. A gifted child in those schools can find many intellectual peers, activities that interest them, and quite often teachers that are highly engaged. It can also be crushing for students that are told they must be at the top of the class. Obviously only a few students can make it to the top, and the rest of the children with tiger parents suffer.
In my opinion, this does not make the school a "hot-house". It makes it a great school where some fraction of the children are hot-housed. My guess is it is the children in the top 20%, but below the top 5% that face the most pressure. The really bright kids will do well anyway without all that much effort. And the ones not in contention for the elite college admissions find these schools just like any other, with the focus being on sports, attracting the opposite sex, etc.
