It's possible that parents could become lazy and detached from their child's growth, but it seems like the idea with this method is that the parents are supposed to support the child's interest in things. In a way, this seems more like the "good ole days" where you focus more on a specific path.
The problem is early on 'we' learned a structured school system was important if everyone was to work together after school was over. That's the real purpose of elementary and middle schools with high school being more of preparation for college.
However, due to laziness across the board we lost our way.
Except for some child progeny, there is no fucking way a <10 year old knows what the best course for their personal development and not setting the stage for guidelines creates today's beliefs of "I can do whateva I want, you ain't my boss!".
Look at even high school term papers, instead of books you have to read; you can do them on magazine articles. Instead of 1000 words, you can do it in 200 or so. There is no shop classes, no drafting/graphics, etc...instead they add in all this low level math and science courses that are a waste compared to what you'd get at the high school level and beyond.
When one kid fails instead of being honest, we just dumb everything down to that common denominator.
IMHO school should get more competitive and college should not be made an extension of high school. No free rides for B's, less aid for total financial reasons, etc. Make is so getting into college is tough again.
In today's world everyone acts as if their kids are going to be CEO and expects them to be treated that way.
Sorry, someone has to be in charge of the fries and even then some can't hit that level.