Well these kids aren't you. They don't have money, not all of them can get jobs (child labor laws, teen job market), and their parents may not have extra money they can just give them. Walk to school? Yeah let them walk to school in gang territory, where they could get caught in the middle of gang shootout, see how their parents feel about that.
You know this reminds me of a little experience I had yesterday on the M15 SBS yesterday. These three 5th graders got on the bus making all kinds of raucous. Mind you this was LES, not Harlem. They were harassing passengers, speaking in a derogatory manner (they were talking about porno) and overall disturbing most peoples' commute. I even almost watched them knock an old lady over. The little sh*ts also were messing with TA property by holding the doors every time the driver tried to close them. I'm surprised he didn't get up and yell at them. And you think the lower income kids are the only ones undeserving of Student Metrocards.