I'll add one more thing: kids in my class were accepted to Ivies, Seven Sisters, MIT, Carnegie-Mellon, and other top-tier colleges, and we ALL did well at them. It wasn't like everyone was slacking off and not learning anything in high school. Far from it. I suspect that our learning was more meaningful than what kids today get, because we had time to sit and think about stuff (as opposed to kids now, who churn out one assignment after another).

I'll also add that the excessive homework loads today are coming from the schools, not the parents. Mithawk, I agree that a lot of the stress is due to too much pressure from the parental units, but if the schools are putting kids into a position of having to work 10-11 hour days, they're at fault, too.