Where Does The Responsibility Lie?

In the last couple months I've had two parents challenge me over their students' grades.  One explicitly states that since grade inflation is everywhere, I should inflate his student's grade; the other claims that I don't teach.

I ran across Joanne's post Learning Is Hard and agree with the following:

Cramming the night before the test with music playing in the background is not effective, says Willingham. Writing down everything the teacher says? Also not effective. Highlighting everything that seems important in the textbook? If you're a beginner, you'll highlight the wrong things.

He tells students how to analyze a lecture, read a complex text and take useful notes and the importance of avoiding distractions (your brain is not good at multi-tasking) and quizzing yourself. Multiple study sessions work best. 

Do I believe my students are doing the above?  I believe many do what's in the first quoted paragraph, I'm much less sure about the second paragraph (although I know some try to quiz themselves).

When I was working on my master's degree, I had the option of doing a thesis or taking a cumulative test.  It took me 5 years, one class a semester, to earn that degree, and having to study material I'd learned up to five years before presented a challenge.  The test was scheduled for May, so starting in January I got up early every school day and reviewed for 15-20 minutes.  At best I could review one topic in that time period, and sometimes not even a full topic, but reviewing material every day meant that I didn't have to cram the day or so before the test (although I took the day before the test off work and focused on the big topics).  When I finished all the big topics, I'd start back with the first one and go over them all again.  I don't know what I scored on that test, but I earned the degree, so that's something!  I'm a firm believer in "slow and steady wins the race" if you really want to learn and not just pass a test.