Parenting for Pay

Paying parents to come to parent-teacher conferences.  Giving away gift certificates to attend PTO meetings.  This is what it's come to.  Parents not fulfilling their parental duties unless they are compensated.  Never mind that it's the best thing for your child.  It's the selfish, "what's in it for me" mentality.  The article "Schools Pull Out All the Stops to Get Parents Involved" gives examples of lures that  Detroit schools are using to get parents involved in their child's education (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/01/schools-pull-out-all-the-_n_777379.html).  When my husband and I attended my son's high school open house this past September and the parent-teacher conferences in October, we were appalled at the poor turnout.  Just six years earlier, when our oldest started at the same high school, many parents had to stand during open house presentations because there weren't enough seats.  We had to go to conferences both nights because the wait times to see the teachers were so long we couldn't do it in two hours.    This year, we visited with five teachers in an hour, and had meaningful, ten minute discussions with each.  You can throw all the money you want at public schools, demand better teacher preparation and more rigorous state standards, but if the parent doesn't care about his child's education, then the child won't either.  What has caused this change in attitude?