I have to say that I don't agree with your first point. Yes, these boys are deeply troubled, and your typical "problem students." But I believe that the school setting alone could've changed that if handled right. Knowing where they're from, instead of believing from the beginning that they're going to be "nobody's", teachers and administrators should have been out to help them. Education is sometimes peoples' saving grace when they feel they have nothing else to help them. If their situations were recognized when the boys were young, they could've been nurtured in a structured setting, and shown they don't have to turn out the way they're expecting to. Instead, everyone believed that they weren't going to amount to anything, just like they believe of themselves, setting them up for failure from the very beginning.

Sara