Essay on The Correct Role Models to Go to University

Earning an education could cost you for your entire life, especially if you do not apply for the various types of financial aid. After earning their degree, several students do not earn enough money with the field they have chosen to pay off their debt, making the degree seem pointless. Families that pay for their children’s tuition often wonder, like Linda Lee, if their child is getting what they pay for. Parents pay for the tuition because they do not want their children to miss out on the “college experience.” However, when their child fails to make the right decisions or simply acts their age, it leaves the family wondering if they have made a

The Wes Moore, didn’t have much of a father figure growing up, or anyone to influence him. He might have had his mom, and his grandparents to help him through the military school experience, but he still didn’t have a role model. For the other Wes Moore, his role model was his brother. The other Wes Moore’s brother Tony, was a drug dealer, and not the right person to help influence his life. Tony did care about his brother, and tried to help him succeed, but the other Wes didn’t have a father figure either, and saw Tony as a “dad.”

Tony, Wes's older brother, serves as his primary role model throughout his life. As a child, Wes looks up to the Tony, who holds his own street corner and sells drugs. "To Wes, Tony was a 'certified gangsta.' Tony had started dealing drugs... before he was ten. By the time he was fourteen, Tony had built a fierce reputation in the neighborhood. Despite his skinny frame and a baby face, his eyes were lifeless and hooded, without a spark of optimism" (27). All Wes wants is to be like Tony. He looks up to his older brother and is incapable of seeing his flaws with the drug dealing and violence in his life. By the time Tony is a teenager, the drug game has made him "lifeless". Wes decides to look up to this lifeless figure, even though Tony has barely any hope for his future. Wes respects Tony's "fierce reputation". Tony, instead of working hard to gain his respect, intimidates and threatens others for it. Wes is taught that this is the only way to gain respect, because there is no one else in his life who shows him the right

This is an example of the advice that Tony gives Wes and it is a prime example of how Tony impacts Wes’s behavior. In Wes’s life, Tony is the one responsible for providing him with training and showing Wes the ways of violence. In fact, Tony believes that “his mission as

He grew up without a father, it was because of this loss that he often wondered what it would be like to have one. The fact that his own brother was hanging around the wrong people and falling deeper, and deeper into the world that demolishes any chances of a decent future for young people. A world full of violence, drugs, and imprisonment. Tony undoubtedly influenced Wes for the worst. This is obvious when the author writes, “To Wes, Tony was a “certified gangsta.”

In the text, the intrinsic factor that most influences the author is perseverance, while the intrinsic factor that most influences Wes is motivation. Early in the book we find out that the author’s father died and that his mother wasn’t “coping well with her husband’s death” she was “losing her grip.” (Moore, 37) And very soon after she’d realized that she moved everyone from Maryland to the Bronx in New York. The author was “apprehensive about moving away from my (his) friends, from the only world I’d (he’d) known.” (Moore, 38)  But still after his father’s death and moving so quickly from Maryland he was motivated and tried his best and later went on to do big things despite what would effect a lot of kids’ attitude on life. The intrinsic factor that affected Wes was motivation. He lacked motivation to be a better person even after he was arrested for carrying a knife to “send a message” (Moore, 34) to a kid who tried to mess with him and after “Tony tried to keep Wes in school and away from the drug game for as long as Wes could remember” (Moore, 71) But Wes continued to deal drugs and get arrested for trying to assault a person (and other reasons). These intrinsic factors are about the same thing but the author didn’t let obstacles get in the way of perseverance and Wes lacked in

hear one mention of that in the news. They are making us believe that all

Wes 2 remembered that his mother liked to go out dancing and partying with her friends at clubs. She showed herself to be a bad role model several times. One thing she did was going from one abusive relationship to the next. By the end of the book she had three children with three different fathers. She even had her last boyfriend, who was married to another woman, practically living with her and her sons. She would say with her words that she was against using drugs, however, when Wes 2 found the marijuana in her pocket he found out the truth. He also found himself trying to emulate and prove himself to his older brother, Tony, who was also a walking contradiction. Not only did Tony deal with drugs, he dropped out of school, and taught Wes to solve problems with physical force. His words were of encouragement for a better future for his brother, but his actions proved that he didn’t believe better was possible. The author writes “Wes didn't think Tony was a hypocrite exactly--he knew why his brother felt obliged to warn him off. But it was clear that Tony didn't have any better ideas or he would've made those moves himself” (Moore page 71). Wes 2 was learning through what he saw being lived out through his mother and

Tony, Wes’s older brother, tried to tell him to stay away from drugs but he didn’t listen. The narrator, on the other hand, grew up with a mother who made it a point to learn right from wrong. When the narrator was little his mother said, ”I told you, don’t you ever put your hands on a woman(Moore 5)!” His mother made sure that he knew that it was not okay to treat people like that which showed that he would learn right. These differences may seem very small, but they are a major cause for why they both turned out so

Author Wes had many role models presented to him that gave him a representation of what correct path he should take in life. As for the Other Wes, his role models wasn't as adequate for that task. Other Wes role model was his brother Tony who in which was the eldest. The other Wes moore didn’t have a father figure so he depended on his older brother to show him the ropes of manhood but Tony didn't live up to that role. Tony was a known drug dealer where he lived in Baltimore but he try to steer his younger brother Wes away from it. When Tony would give him advice on avoiding this lifestyle, Wes would completely ignore it cause he wanted so badly to be like his older brother Tony. Stated by Moore, “Tony was the closest thing Wes had to a role model. But the more he tried to be like his brother, the more his brother rejected him.The more

Some of the habits we make occur because those who we look up to have them as well. In other words monkey see monkey do. This is directly true for the Baltimore Wes Moore. Wes had his older half brother Tony to look up to, which is typical for any younger brother to do. Tony though was not the best person to look up to, he was becoming a big name in drug dealing by the time Wes was eight years old. Every time Wes came to a crossroads in his life he always wanted to be like Tony and would take the road that would make him more like Tony. It was never Tony’s intention to get him in the drug game he in fact he says “How many times do I have to tell you to leave this stuff alone, man?” (Moore 70) referring to the time when

Perhaps the most obvious difference in their challenges was that the other Wes lacked positive role models in his life. While the author Wes had the role models of both his grandparents and fellow students at military school, the other Wes only had Tony, his drug dealing brother, to look up to. This can be seen by Wes’s motto, given to him by Tony, “Rule number one: If someone disrespects you, you send a message so fierce that they won’t have the chance to do it again,” (33). This motto played a role in the poor choices that Wes made, especially those involved with violence. Whenever Wes made the choice to either physically attack someone or attack someone with a weapon, the motto ‘send a message’ was mentioned. Tony’s negative impact on Wes affected him by allowing Wes to justify his actions and choices by saying that he was ‘sending a message’. In addition to this, despite Tony’s efforts to keep Wes out of the drug game, Wes was involved in the drug game before his teenage years. His choice to become involved in the drug game led to a crime-filled life, in which “getting arrested was starting to feel routine,” (114). This apathy towards getting arrested exemplifies Wes’s bad choices and the impact they have on his

As we continue with “The Other Wes Moore,” fate has taken a turn for the worse. Wes has followed his older brother foot's steps in becoming a drug dealer while the other Wes is falling behind in school. Tony has influenced Wes in becoming a drug dealer unintentionally because Wes idolized Tony and wanted to be just like his big brother despite following in his wrong footsteps. Younger siblings will always look up at their older siblings because the older siblings have always protected and cared for them. Older sibling will become a parent figure to the younger sibling by offering them advice and guiding them into the right path. Tony being the older brother wanted a better life for his little brother because he knew the consequences of being a drug dealer. Drug dealers are more likely to become addicts, sentence to jail or be killed. Tony wanted his brother Wes to stay out of this lifestyle, but

This little decision he made affect his life significantly because Tony dose drugs and all this other stuff and Wes is going to do the same thing that Tony is doing. The young Wes Moore was just coming back home when Tony stops him. Tony ask where is all this money coming from. Other young Wes response by saying he was a D.J. Tony get really mad and starts to beat up other young Wes because he knows he was dealing drugs. The mother of the young Wes stop Tony from beating him up any longer. Then Wes got up and the mother says that "Wes wanted to be just like Tony" (Moore 72). The other young Wes more affect his life big time because he made the small decisions to be just like Tony. Tony has done a lot of drugs and other bad actions. It was Wes little decision to be like Tony and not him

Visualize living in a beautiful 4-bedroom home near the mountains. Now, imagine the transition to living in a car. Eventually you will shift from receiving government assistance to attending graduate school while working for the federal government. That is a snapshot of my life. Life has thrown me lemons, and I have done my best to make the sweetest lemonade. I have sustained employment since my senior year of high school, and have maintained above a 3.0 throughout my collegiate career. The roughest period was the 2007-2008 school year when I lost an uncle, grandmother, and best friend during a five month period. Nevertheless, my experiences never deterred me from achieving my dreams. I want to support children and families potentially