State provided education, they should have taken their teachers advice and studied.
They were probably advised by many people during their short misspent youth to study hard.
If they had no hope it was their own fault, my premise is they thought that drugs and violence were a cool easy way to get what they wanted.
The reason most people are poor is that crime does not pay.
My guess is that they may be young enough for the Brady bunch to call them children and that will be two more children killed by gun violence.
Comes down to parenting. Bad parents or absent parents.
Also the culture of gangsta crap.