Please respond to each of the questions below. Responses should be at least one paragraph. Number your responses so that it is clear which question you are answering.
1. Military school obviously benefited author Wes Moore. What did author Wes Moore go on to do after exiting military school? Do you think there were any other paths that could have set him on the straight and narrow?
1. Military school obviously benefited author Wes Moore. What did author Wes Moore go on to do after exiting military school? Do you think there were any other paths that could have set him on the straight and narrow?
2. Prisoner Wes Moore continued to proclaim innocence, saying he wasn’t there for the robbery. Do you think the author believed him? Did you believe him? Do you think he should have been sentenced to life in prison?
3. At one point, author Wes Moore asks prisoner Wes Moore, "Do you think we are all products of our environments?" How would you answer this question?
4. Prisoner Wes Moore says that we are either products of our environments or products of our expectations. Which is it? What about you? (Are you more a product of your environment or more a product of your expectations for yourself?)
5. What does education have to do with the path that each Wes Moore landed on (then continued on)?
1. Wes Moore changed a lot in Valley Forge. He matured socially and found a love for academics and athletics. After leaving the military school, he attended the junior college program to receive his associate's degree and become a second lieutenant in the army. I think he still would have had a shot at success if his family had moved to a place with less crime and bad influences. I think Wes's mother made the best choice by sending him to Valley Forge. He learned many life lessons that he may not have learned anywhere else, even if he was staying in a better place.
ReplyDelete2. I do not think author Wes Moore believed the other Wes Moore when he said he was innocent. He used the word, "admit," so it makes me think author Wes Moore is convinced he is guilty. Author Wes Moore just wants him to "admit" that he has done it even though the author is already fairly sure of his thoughts. I do not think he is guilty of what he was charged, but I disagree with his statement, "I was not even there that day." According to The Baltimore Sun, he testified that he held a clerk at gunpoint, but they charged him with felony murder. I feel that he may be guilty of the charges against him because he had a bad history and had even shot at someone in the past.
3. I do think we are products of our environments. We are shown in the book that environments influence people greatly. Both boys lived in neighborhoods with lots of drugs and crime, and they probably would have turned out similar if author Wes Moore had not gone to military school. In author Wes Moore’s military school environment, he learned discipline and respect, and he became a driven, well-educated person. The other Wes Moore remained in his bad neighborhood, and he eventually became a drug dealer and ended up in jail.
4. Prisoner Wes Moore says we are products of our expectations. He says that when others have expectations of you, you will take them on as your own and live them to be true. He said, “We will do what others expect of us.” I think both of their statements are true. You will live to your expectations if you have them, but not all of us do. The expectations that we have for ourselves depending on our environment and what is available. For example, I have been raised to expect a lot from myself, but that is because I know I have the resources to fulfill those expectations. If I didn’t have access to a good school, going to college may not be in my expectations. Environments and expectations both shape who you are because it is our surroundings that teach us to expect more or less from ourselves.
5. Education is a big factor in whether or not you will succeed. Both Wes Moores did not like or care about going to school in the beginning of their lives, but that changed for author Wes Moore. The author was sent to a military school where he learned, among other things, discipline. He learned the consequences of his actions, and soon saw that the school care about his education, so he began to care too. Prisoner Wes Moore did not care enough to go to school. He was already a drug dealer, and that was much more important to him than graduating. Education can provide countless opportunities to those who have it, but those who don’t are forced to take a different route to survive. In prisoner Wes Moore’s case, that route was participating in illegal activities to make money.
Good responses Katelyn. I appreciate your response to #5 and what you said about taking a different route to survive. I think for some people, that's all they are looking to do––survive.
Delete1. After military school author Wes Moore went to a junior college to get an associates degree and become a lieutenant in the Army. During his high school years he became a good athlete, but realized he wasn’t good enough to pursue sports as a career. I think military school was the best option for author Wes Moore. Being in such a strict environment kept him out of trouble, but it also taught him respect. I don’t think any other option would have created such a good outcome.
ReplyDelete2. Author Wes Moore doesn’t believe prison Wes Moore. He seemed very clear in saying that he sees prisoner Wes Moore as guilty. I’m not really sure if I believe that prison Wes Moore wasn’t there. Author Wes said that maybe if prison Wes said it enough, he would start to believe it was the truth, and I agree with that thinking. I’m still not clear as to what happened in the robbery, I do know that someone was killed, but I don’t know enough to judge prison Wes Moore. I can’t say whether or not if he should have been sentenced to life in prison.
3. I think we are. Our environment shapes almost everything we do. If we live in a hostile, “survival of the fittest” environment, I think we would end up as hostile and aggressive towards others. I know how my parents act influences how I act. We always say we don’t want to end up like our parents, but what they do shows us how we should behave, so why wouldn’t we end up like them? The environment we live in shows us what is acceptable and what isn’t.
4. I think both play a major role. Our expectations of ourselves are influenced by the environment we grow up in. I don’t know if it’s just one, or both, and I also think it varies for every person. Personally, I think I am a product of my own expectations. The environment I grew up in is very supportive, but I have always put higher expectations on myself, and when I don’t meet those expectations I feel like a failure.
5. Education plays a large role in our lives, and it sets up our future. Author Wes Moore had a high school and college education. He learned so he could go on to become successful in his job. Prison Wes Moore never saw the value of learning, and he dropped out of high school. Education not only teaches us math, it gives us life skills, like respect and communication. I think prison Wes Moore’s lack of education set him on a harder path because he didn’t get the life skills author Wes Moore did.
I like this particular part of your response: "Author Wes said that maybe if prisoner Wes said it enough, he would start to believe it was the truth." I think I like it because at times, I think that we all have fallen into that trap.
DeleteI think the sports helped him like the school. I agree with you when you say author Wes Moore made it very clear that he did not believe prisoner Wes. I liked the part "he would start to believe the truth," because it shows how someone can hear something over and over and overthink it. In the third paragraph, I like how you mention that it our environment was hostile, we would start acting the same way toward others. Both author and prisoner Wes Moore had to behave that way in some point in their lives. In your fourth response, I agree with you, because both play a role depending on your circumstances. I like that you mention setting expectations for yourself, and feeling bad it you don't meet them. This made me remember how not everybody has expectations, so they don't get far in life. Education, or lack of it, definitely plays a big role for both people. I liked in your response how you said, "Education not only teaches us math, it gives us life skills, like respect and communication." I agree with that, because even if there isn't a class for life skills, we get them from being social with people or being responsible for our actions.
DeleteYou wrote a good response with many things I forgot about in the book, I enjoyed reading it.
1. After author Wes Moore left military school, he joined their junior college to become a second lieutenant in the army. Valley Forge was a key point in Wes Moore’s life. It was there that he learned to love school. I think that Valley Forge was Wes’s only option at that point in time. If his family had more money and could have gotten a house for themselves in a better neighborhood, maybe he wouldn’t have needed military school to “whip him into shape” as the saying goes. I think because Wes grew up in a really tough place, that affected his want and ability to learn.
ReplyDelete2. I don’t think that author Wes Moore believes that prisoner Wes Moore is innocent. I don’t believe that prisoner Wes wasn’t there, but I don’t know whether or not to believe that he actually killed someone. He had a rough childhood and had been arrested before and had shot at someone as well. That makes me inclined to think that he could do it again, but to know for certain I would have to have more information on the armed robbery in question.
3. I believe that we are products of our environment. Everything we do is influenced by our environment. If you grow up somewhere where money is scarce and education isn’t shown as important, you aren’t really going to care about school and in turn you’re going to end up in the same situation as an adult you were in as a child. Where you live plays a big part in who you become as a person.
4. I think that it’s a little bit of both. You’re environment is going to influence your expectations. Personally, I think I’m more a product of my expectations than I am my environment, although my environment does play a part in who I am. I say that because if I didn’t have as high expectations of myself, I wouldn’t be the academically driven person I am. Saying that, if I hadn’t grown up somewhere where college was an option, I wouldn’t be so hard on myself to do so well in high school.
5. Education was a big part of how each of Wes Moore’s life turned out. Both of them started out not caring about it, but after author Wes Moore was sent to military school, his view on school changed and he begin to try. He soon came to love it and continued on to college and the military. Prisoner Wes Moore never got the chance to become a better person because his mom didn’t have the support to keep him in school. With no high school education, it became hard to get a real job and the drug trade wasn’t a safe job.
Abby Egner
I like what you said in #5 about prisoner Wes Moore's mom. I think she wanted to keep him on the straight and narrow, but she wasn't sure how to do that––and/or didn't have the resources to do that.
Delete1. After author Wes Moore left military school, he went on to go to a college to try and become a lieutenant in the army. Author Wes Moore went from being in a downward spiral in life to becoming hard-working and politful. Military school really helped author Wes Moore to turn his life around and be able to get multiple scholarships from colleges. I don't think that anything else could have changed the author Wes Moore like military school did.
ReplyDelete2. Author Wes Moore didn't seem too believe that prisoner Wes Moore was innocent. When prisoner Wes Moore told him this he says in reflection of this, “did he think that through repetition it would become true?”(126). I don't believe that prisoner Wes Moore is innocent either. Considering that prisoner Wes Moore was also connected to other crimes and that he also has been in “jail” before, even if it was just a juvenile detention center, and still didn't reform, I think that he does deserve to serve his time in jail.
3. I think that this is partly true. Where you grow up definitely affect the person who you grow up to be, but that is not the only factor and you don’t always become like the people you knew when you grow up. People who grow up with parents and all the people around them having a certain trait like being racist or sexist, that person might grow up and have the same traits because that is what was considered “normal.” Like in prisoner Wes Moore’s case, he grew up with a brother who was in the drug business. His brother was who he looked up to, and so he followed in his footsteps. However, prisoner Was Moore did still have a choice. It’s hard to do alone but people like author Wes Moore who got help by going to the military school, he was able to take another path and not follow the steps of people he knew.
4. I think that what prisoner Wes Moore says is a way that a lot of people explain bad things they did in life. People don't like taking the blame for just about anything. People will deny it, like prisoner Wes Moore did, and they will also defend it on outside circumstances. The exact opposite happens when someone does something good. They will take the credit for it and will “blame” it on themselves. I think that it is either one depending on which way the person wants you to think. I don't believe that I am either a product of my environment or my expectations. Maybe I am more of one or the other at a certain time, but in general I think that it depends on the situation.
5. The different education that both Wes Moore’s had is a big factor of what sets their lives apart and how they turned out. I think that education is an important part in people's lives. The environment of where someone learns education is also important. If someone is enrolled in a school that has a lot of people who are involved in drugs, then that will higher the risk of that person being involved in drugs too. If someone is in a school that has a strict no drugs or alcohol on school grounds and prioritizes work, then a person going there has less of a chance to be involved in drugs and other illegal things.
I like what you wrote here, Ada: "His brother was who he looked up to, and so he followed in his footsteps. However, prisoner Was Moore did still have a choice." I think he did look up to his brother, but I like that you also point out that he is still responsible for the choices he made.
Delete1. When author Wes Moore left military school, he jumped into the junior college, going on to become a lieutenant in the army. I believe that these events became a key part of Wes Moore becoming who he was do to his surroundings, loves for things such as school and sports, and how he could fend for himself. At this point in time, honestly, this option seemed the best for him. All the other options would most likely have led him somewhere else, military school was really perfect for him overall.
ReplyDelete2. Personally, author Wes Moore clearly did not see prisoner Wes Moore as innocent, the phrasing of how he spoke seemed more pressing than defending him. When it comes down to it, I believe that prisoner Wes Moore was involved, but whether he was the one who shot and killed? I am not sure if he killed them, but he was clearly involved. The author Wes Moore clearly knew some of prisoner Wes Moore's words were part of the truth, but the author needed to know the whole truth. Life in prison though, that is a hard question to answer. If they have video evidence or clear proof, I would say so, but just a mere guess off of some minor evidence, that does not feel enough.
3. We are all products of the environment, the environment being the world around us, from the people to the dirt beneath our feet. We are only what we have been taught to be and how we perceived ourselves. My father was the one who raised me the most, he is one of the reasons I am who I am today. Other people affect us too, even natural life affects us, as well as the earth. We are only a small part taken from society, carved into who we are today.
4. We are a product of our environment mainly. Expectations come from the environment. Anything around us had to pass through the environment we live in, whether it may be dreams, hardships, death, life, or whatever. Expectations are merely who we think we should be based on what other people think or what other people want to think. The world around us is the real thing that shapes us.
5. Education for me is a touchy subject, however it becomes an important part of our lives if done correctly. Author Wes Moore was shot from a dark place and thrown into education, rebelling at first but then becoming a better man, someone who strived to be better, who lived to see the next day. Whereas, prisoner Wes Moore was never given that opportunity for schooling and assistance. In many ways, the story reflects that, schooling can often shape us, allow us to be a better person if done right.
I'm curious about your response to #5, Porter. I'd be curious to know why it's a touchy subject. Anyhow, I think the key is, as you point out, that education needs to be done right. That's really true. It can take so many forms, though, that it's hard to know what being done right looks like.
Delete1. After attenfing Valley Forge, author Wes Moore's perspective on many things had changed. He was no not running away from his future, but striving towards it. As he was talking about himself changing in chapter six, he realized that the academy changed him in a good direction. 'No excuses, No exceptions.' and our honor code, "A cadet will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those that do," were not simply words we had to memorize but words we live by.' Wes Moore (115) You see how his thinking and actions change also, forming him into the platoon sergeant, and cadet master sergeant he is now.
ReplyDelete2. No I don't think he believed prisoner Wes Moore. As he did, author Wes Moore sympathized him, but as stone cold the other Wes Moore was, and just acted as if everything was put against him made him even more of a suspect. The fact that he kept saying he's innocent and repetitively saying he wasn't even there makes him look even worse since there were a lot of witnesses. The irony that he just stone faced sits and waits just seems as if he is waiting till they just let him go for not saying anything when he is the culprit.
3. I think that it depends on the person. I am not a product of my environment for example, but many of my other friends are. All of us are products of our parents and we get some of their traits as we grow up, but some people have personas they created off of their beliefs and perspectives. They become a person they built themselves, from every single thing we know and grasp from the world forms us, if we wanted it to.
4. When prisoner Wes Moore boldly said "We will do what others expect of us. If they expect you to go to graduate, you graduate. If they expect us to get a job, we will get a job. If they expect us to go to jail, then that's where we'll end up too. At some point you lose control." that makes me think, if we were told to do something completely ridiculous, we wouldn't do it, but if we took someone else's expectations of ourselves and made them our own, then yes. If I did not live in Vermont I would not have the expectation to be able to ski during the winter, or get unlimited amounts of maple syrup. It's just something most people don't think about. If someone told me to go into the cooking industry I'd say that they can just keep their opinions to themselves because I have my own goals.
5.Education is what let's you grow and become successful. Many can debate on this and argue but in the end, education really does pay off. If you want to become a scientist you are not going to succeed by doing nothing and not studying. When you think about it, when your teachers say: "You're going to use this in the future" they are most definitely correct. You are not able to get a degree, or a high paying job without graduating university/college, and expect yourself to be successful when you party a day before you have midterms.
Alena, very thoughtful responses. I like that you personally responded to the questions. I also like your response to question #1 and how you point out how important the honor code had become to author Wes Moore. Good job,
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