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Other wes moore essay
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The other was moore comparison and contrast
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In a person’s life, one must overcome obstacles that have the potential to either negatively or positively impact their future. Whether it is a serious obstacle, such as being involved with drugs, or a minor obstacle, such as procrastinating an important essay for the night before it is due, the choices people make can influence the way they live their lives. In Wes Moore’s inspiring non-fiction book, The Other Wes Moore, two boys with the same name start off living a few blocks away from one another, but turn out to be completely different individuals. At first, they were both troublemakers, getting in trouble with the law. However, as time progressed, the author, Wes Moore, became a Rhodes scholar and quite successful, while the other Wes Moore was sentenced to life in prison. The difference between these two men was the surrounding influences that shaped their growth as people. In a person’s growth, the most important factors are a positive role model in a positive environment because a positive role model will provide the path to success and will aid that person in achieving prosperity.
Both Wes Moores were definitely not raised in such an environment. In The Other Wes Moore, both boys grow up in the ghettos of Baltimore with the lack of a paternal presence. The responsibilities of a father are to provide a good example for his sons and raise them to become gentlemen. Fathers are usually the source of this positive role model because most children view their fathers as their heroes. A father is supposed to teach his children how to properly live, and show them right from wrong. Because the main characters are both fatherless, they have to find other “role models” to look up to. These other “role models” could possibly have ...
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As the reader can distinguish throughout the book, both men went in completely different paths after starting in the same position. The difference between both of their stories is the author’s positive role model and the other effects of the military academy. It does not have to specifically be the military academy to shape someone to be successful, but discipline and a father-like figure can make the difference. My father is fortunately in my life, and has shaped me into the person I am today. He has taught me numerous lessons that have gotten me to this point in my life. I am privileged enough to also have close successful cousins who often give me advice on how to become as successful as they are. With the help of a positive role model and a positive environment, the ability to become a good person, as well as successful can be obtained.
The Other Wes Moore is a book talking about two different men with the same name,Wes Moore. They were both raised up by a single mother and live in the same decaying city, Baltimore, where there are surrounded by drug and alcohol. However, the author Wes Moore’s parents completed their education and have a good job while his grandparents also were well-educated. But the other Wes Moore’s parents didn’t graduate from college, his mother tried to get the scholarship but failed, and his father left high school and don’t have a job either. This two Wes Moores both grew up with their mother. The author Wes’s father died for disease while the other Wes’s father left his family. With this situation, they went to the same direction, being absent from
A child will not change their behavior if their parent does not show disapproval and does something about their behavior we they act out. With both of these combine, it made Wes’s opportunities starting from a young age, very slim of being successful. Growing up, Wes Moore had his mom and family around him to support him and when things got bad, his mom sent him to military school as a disciplinary action. This saved Wes from further becoming a bad kid because there, he learned discipline and respect. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore was off selling drugs and doing other bad things while his only influence was his brother. The other Wes Moore was so involved in his profits from selling drugs that he even sold to a cop even though he knew that he was undercover (Moore 112). Wes took this chance because he was so desperate for the twenty dollars he was going to receive, he didn 't care what the consequences were. I believe that if the author Wes Moore never went to military school, that he would have turned out just like the other Wes Moore. Weich from Lincoln County Jail stated that when investigating the jail, inmate were forced to garden as their “hardwork” this was supposed to change them. The inmates just had to be on good behavior and they were then able to garden while in jail (Weich). The point of going to jail is to be disciplined and learn and grow as a
This has shaped me to be who I am today, because I greatly appreciate what I have and take advantage of the opportunities I am given because not everyone is lucky enough to have what one has family plays and will always play a big influence in our lives and in this novel, we are given a great example of how it does. Although Wes didn’t know his father for long, the two memories he had of him and the endless stories his mother would share with him, helped guide him through the right path. His mother, made one of the biggest changes in Wes’s life when she decided to send him to military, after seeing he was going down the wrong path. Perhaps, the other Wes’s mother tried her best to make sure he grew up to be a good person, but unfortunately Wes never listened.
The Other Wes Moore is a story of two men with the same name who grow up in a similar situation but they have completely different fates. The story is written by Wes Moore, who is the main character in the story. The Other Wes Moore is a non-fiction story that tells the story of two men with the same name with two different fates. The author Wes Moore grew up in Baltimore and was very poor and he was able to make it out of the city and succeed in life. This story shows his success in becoming a Rhodes scholar and college graduate. These teenagers lives are very similar to other teenagers throughout the world. Their families have low incomes and their children are set up for failure. Many fall into the trap but some have the right mindset and
In their respective life journey, both Wes Moores often found them facing with some hard choices or decision to make or standing at a crossroads of life change without knowing which way to turn. Therefore, “for all of us who live in the most precarious places in this country, our destinies can be determined by a single stumble down the wrong path or a tentative step down the right one” (Moore xiv). During their early childhood, both Wes Moores struggle at school and had troubles with the law. However, for the author Wes Moore, attending the military school was the biggest turning point in his life. Aware of his mother’s determination, his family’s sacrifice, and encouragement from classmates and instructors as well as the influence of role models, the author Wes Moore finally made up his mind that he wanted to succeed in the military school. At the end, the author Wes Moore fulfilled his dream and did well academically from then on. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore had tumbled on a series of missteps along the road: dropping out of school, getting involved with drug trade, committing violent crimes, and being a father of four when he was so young and immature. Even though there was a time when he tried to reinvent himself: joining the Job Corp, getting a high school diploma, and finding some decent jobs, the reality and his making-quick-money mentality eventually brought him back to the original path with no return. At last, by committing an armed robbery that left a police officer dead, the other Wes Moore irreversibly drove himself to the dead end of life. Obviously, based on their early life experiences, both Wes Moores would have gone the same route to failure. Nevertheless, at some critical points of their lives, the author Wes Moore made some good choices with intervention and guidance of good people while the other Wes Moore lost his footing under undue
Moore quote including said, “It was a different psychological environment, where my normal expectations inverted, where leadership was honored and class clowns ostracized” (96). The quote The (author) Wes Moore seen in his Military School that the lower freshmen was respects the higher ranking. The (author) was very amazed that in his military school the students were respect their superior and follow their command and their honor code rules to obey by. At the Military School teaches (author) Wes Moore about learn the discipline, leadership, and teamwork. The military do care about the (Author) Wes Moore successes. The (author) Wes Moore have the stronger mentor giving him the responsibility of their trust on him to force him to change his bad behavior that impact his teenage and adulthood
“I guess it’s hard sometimes to distinguish between second chances and last chances” (Moore 67). This is a powerfully central theme to the book The Other Wes Moore, written by Wes Moore. For the two men this book is about, it all begins with a wide-open future. The mothers that gave birth to them and the influences they had, along with their own powerful choices, sealed their fate . People don’t ever stop growing or improving and the two Wes Moore’s are no different. Throughout their lives, they are constantly changing and in some places calling the shots. One chose correctly, and one did not.
Numerous people in the world make mistakes everyday just like Greg Ousley who killed both of his parents at age 14, yet it doesn’t prevent a person from becoming a dynamic character like Greg Ousley. Greg Ousley killed his parents due to them not understanding him, but Ousley didn’t really understand why he killed them and how he was going to be changed until serving his sentence of 60 years. “Yet during this same period, Greg somehow managed to become a model inmate.” Ousley’s childhood was filled with trouble like telling friends he was going to kill his parents in 7th grade, running away from home, use of firearms, and getting high; this trouble stilled continued in prison with Ousley getting written for countless minors. Greg Ousley changed
I woke up that Saturday morning eager to get out of bed. The man I admire the most was in town. He had come to see me play football the night before, and I had asked if I could interview him for my veteran’s essay. I sat down on the couch ready to ask the wisest man I know my questions. You could see it in his eyes that he had seen it all. “Why did you decide to join the military?” I asked my grandfather. “Well, it was 1965, I had gone through two years of college and the draft for the Vietnam War started, and I wanted to do something other than carry a riffle in the jungle.” He recalled. “I knew my options were limited. So I figured if I joined the air force, that after my two years they would continue to send me to school.”
Kwasi Enin grew up in New York with ‘tiger parents’. His parents valued education and set very high expectations for his academic career. They pushed him to use his resources and ‘would not tolerate grades lower than 95%’, since they believed those grades reflected his work ethic and dedication to his academic success. Martin Altenburg, who grew up in North Dakota, had more easy-going parents, who allowed him to be a ‘free-spirit’. Martin’s parents believe in giving their children
Growing up Jack’s dad’s had a “keen eye for spotting criminals of all stripes was impressive” because he would always point out people that he thought were druggies, criminals, or ex-convicts. He would tell him as a kid that there is no coming back from certain things and being in jail was one of them (Gantos 7). “His eye “wasn’t perfect. He never pegged [Jack] for being one of them” (Gantos 7). Along with his dad trying to help his son not become a criminal his high school tried to help the community as well, In the town's high school there was a presentation where criminals came to share their stories and how they regret doing the things they did because doing the time and wasting their life was not worth it. Jack believed this to be useless, “What could they say that could possibly change my life? I was enjoying my life just fine. I wasn’t going to become a criminal. I was going to be a writer. And if not a writer, I wasn’t sure what I might do, but I certainly had no interests in becoming a criminal,” (Gantos 28). Little did he know that later in life he would become a prisoner
What are the difference’s between successful people and unsuccessful people. Two ideas are that they are born like this and can’t do nothing to change it, but a different idea is that your outside surroundings can affect how someone turns out. In the book The Other Wes Moore it shows extrinsic factors. To as how one of the Wes’s turned out successful Whereas the other one didn't.
One’s environment shapes their aspirations and how they achieve them. The people you are surrounded by and the place you live greatly affect what you want out of life and how you attain it. Wes (the author) went to a private school and grew up with a stricter upbringing since he lived with his grandparents, while Moore (the convict) grew up with his mother and went to public school. Wes feels alienated since he’s going to a white school and lives in a non-white neighborhood. Moore, on the other hand, feels jealous of his brother’s pricey clothes (which he obtained from drug dealing). There is also drug activity in the household (his mom smokes weed), which Moore then tries and makes the decision while high to join the drug game. Both Wes and
When he was in college, however, he hit a barricade with his parents, especially his father, who did not understand why he wanted to go to college. In spite of this, he worked hard, paid his own way, and proceeded to get a two-year degree as a first-generation college student. He knew he wasn’t finished, so he continued his education, eventually becoming a police officer. In college and throughout his career, he was inspired to work hard and be a leader, because of enthusiasm for a challenge and the fact that he did not want to fail in the presence of his peers.
Booker T. Washington once said, “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed” (BrainyQuote). To achieve success one must accomplish an aim or purpose. Success cannot be achieved over night. In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell talks about both Robert Oppenheimer and Chris Langan he writes “Here we have two very brilliant young students, each of whom runs into a problem that imperils his college career. Langan’s mother has missed a deadline for his financial aid. Oppenheimer has tried to poison his tutor. To continue on, they are required to plead their cases to authority. And what happens? Langan gets his scholarship taken away, and Oppenheimer gets sent to a psychiatrist. Oppenheimer and Langan might both be geniuses, but in other ways, they could not be more different” (98). Although Robert Oppenheimer had better family support and more opportunities than Chris Langan did, they both were still successful in life.