The Role Of Parental Support And Lack Thereof

Fatherless homes in the black community is at 57.6% (NCF, 2017). One of many issues of a fatherless home is children have less structure and lack of discipline; i.e. Chicago. The children suffer the most. I believe children need both parents in the household to be complete (“not all”). I believe if women have father’s in their lives (a positive male figure at minimum) it could help their decision in choosing the right mate will help this issue.

Throughout “The other Wes Moore”, The Wes’ were faced with surprisingly similar situations that were handled in very different ways. These situations were key turning points in each of their lives and shaped them into who they are. Even though each Wes had hardships in their environment and faced many trials and tribulations, ultimately, their choices during these times are what produced each Wes. Because of their series of different choices that each Wes Moore made during their lifetime and the outcome of their choices, we are not just products of our environments, but also products of the choices we make.

A person’s success or failure can be determined by their environment, education, choices; a number of different things. The autobiography The Other Wes Moore takes a look at two boys with the same name and eerily similar circumstances who end up in very different places in life. Wes Moore spoke at convocation about his book and what he hoped that people would get from it. In the book he says “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.” (Moore xi). These two men didn’t share the same fate because they each made a choice about what they wanted their life to become. The book truly demonstrates how the choices you make, make you. One Wes

The autobiography The Other Wes Moore was written by a man who was comparing the lives of two men, the author himself and another man who, coincidentally, had the same name. In an attempt to eliminate any confusion, I need to clarify to which Wes Moore I am referring, so, I will refer to the author as Wes 1 and the other Wes Moore will be referred to as Wes 2. It took me a few minutes to decide what to call them since my initial reaction was to say Good Wes and Bad Wes. However, if this course on cultural competence has taught me anything, it’s to not label people. I see now that these two men lived their lives making the best decisions they felt they could have made at the time, and I realize that terms such as “good” or “bad” are misleading and disrespectful. The similarities between the two are obvious from the start; both men are black, both were raised in Maryland, both had to grow up without the presence of a father, and both grew up in poverty. By looking at several social issues we can see how different types of support and opportunities made the difference between the paths of these men. I believe that through their family relationships, their environments, and their experiences their attitudes regarding their ethics and values were shaped, which, in turn, defined their choices.

“This is a story of two boys living in Baltimore with similar histories and an identical name: Wes Moore. One of us is free… The other will spend every day until his death behind bars...” (Moore, XI) In The Other Wes Moore, the author, Wes Moore, and the other Wes Moore both grew up in similar, yet different, circumstances and had completely different outcomes. This captivating narrative demonstrates how the choices you make, make you. In the introduction, the author Wes Moore validates this statement by saying, “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.” (Moore XI) The author, Wes Moore, shows the readers that a person’s environment, circumstances, education (or lack

The book, The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore tells a story about two men with the same name and last name but with different outcomes. The author tells his story and the other Wes Moore’s story, how they started off in the same neighborhood and made similar choices but one ended up in prison for life and the other with his freedom. There are several reasons that the two Wes Moores ended up in different situations such as the way their mothers raised them and the different choices that were made by them throughout their life as young adults. The statement that the author wrote at the end of the book is true to the extent that they both grew up in the same type of neighborhood and both were raised by single mothers.

One of the most well-renowned authors, Wes Moore, took his life struggles of growing up in an extremely unprivileged neighborhood --where the chances of living a successful life are very scarce--However, In Moore’s inspirational memoir called The Other Wes Moore, he compared his life to another man who lived through the same unfortunate circumstances, but Moore defied the odds and became an influential figure in the African - American community.

The Other Wes Moore is a story that details two men, by the same name, living two very different lives in Baltimore, Maryland. The author’s story is of success. He left the Bronx to become a respectable citizen of society. While the other Wes Moore became a lifelong tenant of a federal person for his actions. The two life comparisons drive criminology theories of nature versus nurture for the black community. It asks the question if the author Moore was some fluke in the national statistics or did Wes really have his own hand in creating his destiny? Even though the men shared similar beginnings in an underprivileged neighbourhood, their lives diverged due to their family environment and personal perseverance. When at the time, they were

In The Other Wes Moore, the author expresses the striking similarities between him and another man with the same name. The two men are so similar, in fact, that there are very few elements of their lives that set them apart, such as their family histories and personal choices. In writing his book, the author has several target audiences in mind, from young black men to young adults pursuing higher education and people in positions of power. Despite his multiple target audiences, the author has one overall purpose for his book: to show what happens when a person full of potential gives up hope. The story also goes further, showing the importance of both family history and personal choice in the shaping of a person’s future.

One’s childhood has a lasting impact on their entire life. Moore’s upbringing and the loving family he was born into, no matter how trivial it may seem, greatly contributed to his success. Wes seemingly grew up the same as any other kid in the Bronx – in a single-parent household, surrounded by bad influences… what separated him from the crowd? His support system: his family, and their ultimate support and sacrifices made all the difference. As a teenager, Wes seemed to be going down the wrong path. He constantly skipped school, his academic failures were overwhelming, and he was even arrested for vandalism. In the case of the other Wes, his family simply let these actions slide, and decision after decision ultimately landed him with a life sentence in prison. The author Wes’s mother, however, refused to allow this behavior to continue. As a method of intervention, she forced Moore to attend Valley Forge, and in doing so, probably saved his career. The extent of his family’s sacrifice was evident on page 95 when Wes realized that “my grandparents took the money they had in the home in the Bronx, decades of savings and mortgage payments, and gave it to my mother

A father’s role in a child’s life is extremely important when it comes to a child’s development. With so much emphasis placed on young black boys needing their fathers during crucial developmental ages, the rate of our young black girls growing up without fathers is staggering and overlooked. What is an absent father? The definition is quite simple; an absent father can be defined as a father who is not present in the life of their child whether it is physically, emotionally, or both. Although the absence of a father is detrimental in any child’s life, the absence of such in a young black girl’s life is even more crucial. The absent father in a black girl’s life leads to, in some cases, promiscuity and teenage pregnancy, poverty, and

In Jackson and Schines’ study, “Single Mother’s Efficacy, Parenting in the Home Environment, and Children’s Development in a Two-Wave Study” (2003), children's cognitive and behavioral development was examined in single-parent families in terms of the level of intellectual stimulation at home, quality of parenting, and relationship between the parents. For this study, 178 single black mothers whose children were between three and five years old were randomly asked to participate in this study, which consisted of answering questions about their employment levels, self-efficacy beliefs, depressive symptoms, and relationship with the child's father, to begin to understand how these factors and children's development relate. The article was confusing

ontinuing on the article, Ruggles collected data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUM) to see the family structure over the past century. What she found that 30% of black children lived without one or both parent in 1880-1960 and single parenthood raised (Ruggles, 1994 page 141). What this tells me is that single parenthood is not new among African American household as single parent household was present in the 1960. If I were to take a different approach why single parenting is apparent is some adults in the past is that individualism is more important than a marriage. Individualism is when a person focus on their own interest and focus as a person (Cherlin, Andrew 7th edition, page 16). One of the parents could be seeking

A mother’s role and performance in her family structure is often under great scrutiny when it comes to sociological views as to what makes her an ideal parent. There are many different factors that contribute to the success of a mothers parenting skills. Many of these factors are not solely based on the mother’s individual skill set or personality, but might be due to her environmental surroundings. Is it safe to say that a mother’s socioeconomic status and the mother’s role in her family structure has a direct correlation to how her children might positively or negatively contribute to society? With that being said, how might being a single black mother impact this same notion? Households without the biological or legal fathers present are a growing concern in all ethnic groups in America, the situation is particularly acute in the African American community (Connor & White, 2007). Black families headed by a single mother account for slightly more than one third of black families in the United states (“The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education,” 2004). How will these same children and their mothers compare to their Caucasian counterparts? I will be looking into the role and contributions of a single black mother in the family structure and how this might aid or debilitate her children’s success within society as well as the mother herself and her impact on social progression. I will analyze this idea using a structural-functional, social-conflict and symbolic interactionism

“More than half of all Black children live in single-parent households, a figure that has doubled — doubled — since we were children...Children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to land up in prison”