Sounds crazy, right? But it's apparently true. At least according to a press release from the city of Chicago announcing that parents will receive $25 gift cards from Walgreens when they show up to pick up their kids' report cards and attend parent-teacher conferences. The pilot program, brainchild of Chicago Mayor Rham Emanuel, has been launched in 70 public schools and is being viewed as a way to motivate parents to stay involved in their kids' education. All the schools involved have had issues engaging parents and school officials hope this program will change things around.
But, the question remains: is this the right thing to do? Will bribing parents with gift cards be enough to truly get them involved in their child's education?
I'm sure many parents will be with me when I say that I think it's incredibly sad that Chicago public schools have to resort to this tactic to get parents to be involved. Except for those parents who can't take time off work to attend the parent-teacher conferences–a problem that happens all the time thanks to employers not being flexible enough–I have a very difficult time understanding why other parents are not showing up.
I think it's ridiculous for the government to have to offer gift card in exchange of attendance and the saddest part is that while the program might get some parents to attend, I have a hard time believing they'll be actually engaged if they haven't in the past. In other words, they'll most likely go to get the card, but that'll be the extent of their involvement.
Maybe the gift card program should be implemented to have parents attend a session to learn how detrimental their lack of involvement can actually be in their children's future.
Image via Phil Roeder/flickr
