Apathy?

According to Wells, A Suggestion for the Schools, the level of apathy in schools and business has increased over time. I for the most part agree with this person. Any teacher can remember a moment, or several, when there was a student that had such potential, but did not want to apply him or her self to an activity or learning the subject material. Even more so, there are times when entire classes of students do not seem to care about current events or issues that may affect their lives. Wells associates this higher sense of apathy of our students to a movement towards entertainment. According to Wells, kids just want to be entertained. He comments that if things do not resemble the Jerry Spring show, then there will be no interest from students. I for the most part agree with this point as well.
One major solution that Wells offers is the need for teachers, students, administrators, and parents, to build meaningful relationships. This is where I come to find myself at a loss. I, like many other teachers, would greatly enjoy meaningful relationships with all of my students and their parents. However, we must be realistic. Not every parent will be involved with the education process of their child. Even more so, it breaks my heart to say this, but sometimes some students will not be reached in a way to build a meaningful relationship. Besides those relationships, there are the ones that are made between teachers and administrators. Well, depending on your school these relationships can be hell for some teachers. I am not sure how Wells intends for people to build these relationships, but nonetheless I doubt they will truly be possible.
Wells suggest that people a school must provide three key elements in order to help ensure academic success and a decrease in apathy. First a sound academic foundation, so that the basics are taught, you know the basics, like reading and writing. Second, schools must offer some kind of vocational training for its students. Third, it is necessary to provide the students with videos, pamphlets, and other resources that will help them better understand the material. The overall goal to decreasing apathy is so that students are successful in academic or vocational skills. I agree with Wells, but I feel that he over simplifies his solutions. He does not take into account the adversity that teachers, at least urban teachers face on daily basis. Overall, the issue is apathy and it does exist in our school system. The question remains, how do we fix it?