Adults at Penn State who stood silent as child sex abuse continued did not value the lives of disadvantaged youths as much as they cherished their jobs and football, Mary Mitchell writes in her Chicago Sun-Times column. It is the only explanation for why no one did anything to stop it, she writes.

On Thursday night, I had the misfortune of trying to explain to my 11-year-old grandson the horrible events that have taken place at Penn State.

The child sex abuse scandal is being talked about even at grade schools. I tried to make it clear to him that no matter what, if someone -- man or woman -- touched him in a way that made him uncomfortable, he is to tell on that person even if he looked up to that person more than he looked up to me or his parents.

I could tell that he was puzzled about why a grown man would do what Jerry Sandusky is accused of doing, and I'm afraid my explanation about sexual deviance raised even more questions.

But what I couldn't begin to explain was why not one adult, who witnessed or was told that Sandusky was molesting boys, did anything to stop him. Not one.

Read Mary Mitchell's entire column at the Chicago Sun-Times.

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