Who Cares About The Children of Chi Town?

Kids aren't safe in (or out) of school.

The city of Chicago is failing its children. This can be measured by the F grades teachers dole out on tests, but also in the sense that the city's adults are turning their backs on them.

All summer long we've heard countless horror stories of young children being gunned down with reckless abandon.

CBS News reports that by early July of this year, 275 people lost their lives due to gun violence in Chicago. According to Complex Magazine, of the 152 people gunned down from June to August, 38 of them were teenagers. That's not counting the tragic stories of 7-year-old Heaven Sutton who was shot dead while helping her mother sell candy outside their family home, and 10-year-old Kitanna Peterson who was gunned down while playing at a fire hydrant. 

When you hear of tragedies like these, you can't help but think that, for children at least, gun violence statistics will take a dive when school starts. The weather will cool down, and so will people's hot tempers. Homework free kids won't be playing in the mean streets as much, thereby lowering the risk of getting struck by a stray bullet, as crazy as that sounds. But the truth is, school doesn't necessarily provide the peace of mind or safety parents and children crave.

Over the last three school years 260 Chicago public school students were killed by violence, including Derrion Albert, who was beaten to death during a school fight in 2009.

Today, kids in Chicago barely have a better-than-nothing school to attend.