In most Teach for America schools, the choice for some families isn't between parents working to pay for college vs being involved in their child's school. It's a choice between parents working vs the family not eating. When the parents are struggling with subsistence, it's not surprising that they're less concerned with their kids grades.
Although the article only talks about TFA schools, the problem of parents treating school like daycare is not limited to poor neighborhoods. Too many parents seem to think that they're somehow absolved from all parental responsibility as soon as they drop their kids off at school. A large percentage of those parents don't have subsistence as an excuse.
In these cases it is important for families to pull together. I would rather see the children get jobs and help feed the family than waste away in a school learning nothing because the parents are fighting off starvation.
