The Other Wes Moore, Post Two, up to page 97
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. Please post your responses by this Sunday, Dec. 20th @8:00p.m.
1. Outside of his family, who warned author Wes Moore about the bad path he was on? Did Moore heed this warning? For how long? Why didn’t the change stick?
2. Author Wes Moore states, “Later in life I learned that the way many governors projected the numbers of beds they’d need for prison facilities was by examining the reading scores of third graders” (54). How did reading this make you feel? Why?
3. What allowed author Wes Moore to go to better schools than prisoner Wes Moore? (What kinds of sacrifices did his family make?)
4. How did Tony try to dissuade prisoner Wes Moore from following his illegal path? Why did it work or not work?
5. At the end of this part of the reading, Sargent Austin gives author Wes Moore a map. Explain what the map is about, and how following the map turns out for the author. Finally, why do you think Sergeant Austin did what he did?
Aden Perry
ReplyDeleteMr. Joseph Deffner
English 9 Honors
19 December 2020
Prompt 1:
The author Wes Moore was beginning to go down a path that would only ever lead to trouble. He had been dealing drugs before his mom caught him and tried to get him to stop. He just moved his base of operations somewhere else. He was failing many of his classes, thinking about his “other” life. One day, he decided to start graffiting. Cops caught him and his friend, but they were released with a warning. One of the cops told Moore that if didn’t stay away from street life and start picking up his grades that Moore would be seeing him again. Moore listened for a week before going back to the same stuff. He may have forgotten how it felt to be under arrest, but he will definitely live to regret it.
Prompt 2:
I don’t agree with the idea that 3rd graders who are below reading level won’t amount to much. It is still very possible for them to continue working, and it is very possible for them to become really smart. There is also a good chance that those people are not being taught in a way that works for them, making their grades lower. They still have plenty of potential.
Prompt 3:
The author’s family had to pay much more money to get to school than the prisoner, but it meant they had to sacrifice some luxuries, including good clothing and shoes. The reason they paid so much more money was so the author could go to a much better school and get a better education, allowing him to advance further in life down the road.
Prompt 4:
Prisoner Wes Moore has a brother named Tony who is in the drug game. He tries to keep prisoner Moore on the side of the law, as Tony knows that dealing drugs will likely lead to prison. Sadly, Moore does not listen, and ends up getting caught stealing from a jewelry store.
Prompt 5:
The author Wes Moore is sent to the military by his mother after punching his sister. He does not do well there, and people don’t like him very much. Sergeant Austin gives Moore a map, saying it will lead him to a train station. It actually leads to a random place in the middle of the woods. Sergeant Austin did not like Moore, and tried to bring Moore’s arrogance down some.
Good work, Aden. I wonder, in regards to #5, if Sgt. Austin was trying to teach Moore something. Kind of like tough love, maybe?
Delete#1
ReplyDeleteThe author Wes was sneaking out of school with his friends, without his mother knowing. One day, his friend and him started spray painting a wall with their signature drawings. Suddenly they both heard the police coming, and ran away hoping not to get caught. Wes was caught and put in handcuffs, and soon later, his friend. Wes was afraid that he would be brought to jail and worried about what his mother would do to him. Soon, the police officers let them go, but one spoke to Wes. He told him that he needed to stop doing these types of things, to avoid going down the wrong path when he was older. The police officer was very forgiving and even tried to help Wes. Wes decided that he would never do these things again after being that worried and scared that he and his friend would end up in jail. This did not stick for very long, with Wes going back to his ways after one week. I think the reason his plan did not stick was that he was not very really motivated to go to school in the first place and that he had gotten away with that kind of thing many other times, so he felt that he would not get caught again.
#2
This makes me feel really sad and disappointed. This basically seems that third graders’ lives are planned out. If one child is not at a higher reading level, they are expected to not go to college and maybe wind up in prison. There seems to be no room for improvement, and they can be stuck in the same situation for the rest of their lives. However, I think that kids' lives can change, even if it looks like they are heading down a different path. Like author Wes Moore, who was heading down the wrong path, but turned his life around and became very successful as an adult.
#3
The author Wes Moore was able to go to a better school than prisoner Wes Moore because his family had a little bit more money. Both of their parents and grandparents were not wealthy, but they got by. Author Wes Moore’s grandparents gave up their savings so that Wes could go to military school and would not end up having a bad life. Although prisoner Wes Moore’s mother also cared about him and wanted a better life for him, she did not have the money to pay for a private school.
#4
When Tony found out that prisoner Wes Moore was selling drugs, he was very angry at him. Tony was deep in the drug world and did not want Wes to go down the same path as him. He tried to protect him and was scared for him. Tony tried to warn Wes of what life he was getting into, but after Wes not listening to him, he started punching him. They got into a fight, and when their mother, Mary, tried to break it up, Tony told his mother what Wes was doing to get so much extra money. Mary did not want to believe that and defended Wes to Tony. Tony then left, not caring anymore what Wes was doing, knowing he did what he could to try to warn Wes about what he was getting himself into.
#5
When author Wes Moore had just started military school, he hated it. He had already tried to run away, but one day, a man named Sergeant Austin gave Wes a map to escape with. It showed where a train station was, a few miles away. Wes was very grateful and surprised that Sergeant Austin gave the map to him. Wes knew that Austin did not like him, but wanted to get out of there as fast as he could. So, that night, he packed a bag and left in the middle of the night. He followed the map, which led him into the middle of the woods, where many of the higher ranking people were waiting. Wes knew he was caught and was upset at Sergeant Austin for tricking him. I think the reason that Sergeant Austin did this to Wes was that he did not grasp why he was in military school. He did not respect anyone there, had been in trouble many times before, and thought he could get away with not doing anything at school. This was Wes’s wake up call and helped him become who he is now.
I like what you said in regards to Sgt. Austin. I think Sgt. Austin was really pretty key in the author's life.
DeleteI think everything you said in prompt 2 was correct. I don’t think it’s fair to say that most third graders with low reading scores are going to go to prison. As you stated, it’s not impossible to turn life around. Wes Moore is an example of this. I don’t know whether he had a low score in third grade, but he certainly did in high school, and clearly he managed to turn that around. Clearly it is not fair to judge people from just reading scores. I think you did a great job communicating your opinion for this assignment.
DeleteI totally agree with you about the 3rd-grade prison bed estimations. It feels wrong to base a child’s future and life choices based on how well they do reading wise. Obviously, the people recording this date and predicting and estimating can be wrong and the 3rd graders who do not do well can end up with perfectly “normal” lives and not go to prison once. Of course, sometimes they can be right which is unfortunate. Readingpartners.org states “a student not reading at his or her grade level by the end of the third grade is four times less likely to graduate high school on time and six times less likely for students from low-income families.” I think it is sad and disheartening learning that people are focusing a bit more on prison beds then the children who are not at a good reading level. Yes, there are organizations and charities that do work for making education more easy to access, but it says a lot about a country when it’s data from elementary schools are going to prisons.
DeleteI also like how you talked about Author Wes Moore going to Military school. It was upsetting to read in the book, but it made the most sense. Since his family had barely enough money to support him, they had to bring him to a place where they knew he would be cared for.
Response #1:
ReplyDeleteAuthor Wes Moore had started down a bad path. He had started to deal drugs, skip school, and graffiti. Because of this, his grades were going down and he was failing classes. When his mother realized what her son had been getting into she had confronted him and told him to stop. However, the only effect it had on Wes Moore was to continue doing whatever he wanted but more secretly. Eventually, one day when he and his friends had gone to spray paint they got caught by the police. The police let them off with a warning. One officer imparticular spoke to Wes Moore and told him that if he did not pick up his grades and stop with the reckless behavior that he would end up in jail. Initially, this had an effect on Wes Moore because he was scared he had gotten so close to being arrested. However, after a week or so he had gone right back to his usual behavior thinking to himself that he had only gotten caught once and had not even been charged for it, what were the chances he would get caught again.
Response #2
I have mixed feelings about the government guessing how many beds they need in prison based on third-graders reading exams. My initial response is shocked. How could they possibly know how many beds needed in prisons based on a third graders reading level? It makes me wonder how accurate these numbers come back. While I am sure this makes many people upset and disappointed I am surprised to find myself neither, I am more curious than anything. I have so many questions for example, how did one come up with this idea, and how true does it hold. Overall I am the tiniest bit upset I really would just like to know the history of this way of predicting.
Response #3
Author Wes Moore was able to go to a better school because his family made a little more money. His family probably could have lived comfortably if he had not gotten a more expensive, private education. However, with Author Wes Moore going down his troubled path his family was forced to get him into a better school where he would not continue to break the law. However, this meant his family had to make some sacrifices like shoes and clothes. They had to live more like prisoner Wes Moore and his family but they did it by choice. I’m sure that prisoner Wes Moore’s mother would have loved to give him a better education as well but they did not have much more they could sacrifice for education.
Response #4
Tony is prisoner Wes Moore’s brother, who is deep into the drug world. When Tony learns that his brother is getting involved with drugs he tries to explain to him that once you get into the world of drugs it is a bad place that is hard to get out of. But Wes Moore like many other people did not listen. He continued down his path into the drug and crime world and eventually got caught robbing a jewelry store and went to jail.
Response #5
Because Author Wes Moore was heading down this bad path and was not listening to anyone his mother was considering sending him to the military. Wes Moore eventually punched his sister which was the final straw for his mother. She sent him to the military. Once there Wes Moore hated it and nobody liked him. He had tried to run away but failed. One day Sergeant Austin gave him a map that would supposedly lead him to a train station a few miles away. Wes Moore was confused why Sergeant Austin would give him a map because he hated Wes Moore but was so eager to get away that he did not care. So that night he left to try to find the train station when he got to where the train station was supposed to be he found that it had been a trap and there was a bunch of higher-ranked people waiting for him. This served as a wake-up call for Wes Moore and helped fix him into who he is now.
Finn Liland
ReplyDeleteMs. McCall
English 9 Honors
20 December 2020
Prompt 1: Wes's friend Justin tried to warn Wes that he was starting down a path that he was not going to like. I think that Wes did not heed his friends advice saying that his mother was never going to send him to military school and that he was not worried that she was going to do anything about how he was behaving. It seems though that in the end Justin got the last laugh.
Prompt 2: this reading kind of made me uncomfortable but also opened my eyes a bit. This sentence specifically really made me relies how sad it is that in this country we are sooner to set up more prison cots then try and fix the system that brings these men and women to where they are in life. The fact that we determine how many people will fill our prison is based on the reading level of a child no more than ten years in age is kind of sickening when thought about.
Prompt 3: I think one of the reasons that Wes (A) was able to go to better and nicer schools then Wes(P) was because of the kind of work Wes (A)s mother did. She would work several jobs and work from sunrise to sundown so that Wes (A) could attend a nice private school and not public school like she had done as a child in the Bronx.
Prompt 4: I think tony tried to dissuade Wes(P) from following a similar path by telling him over and over again of the dangers and then when he thought Wes was starting to get into the game himself sagely beat him as a result. I think that while Wes probably would remember a beating like that for the rest of his life there are much better ways tony could have handled the situation. I think doing something like showing him how many people were hurt and killed in the drug game would have been a much better shock to give Wes then beating him to a bloody pulp.
Prompt 5: Wes is told that the map leads him to a train station so that he can leave valley forge. Wes thanks Sergeant Austin and leaves that night to head back home. He follows the map but ends up in the middle of a dark and creepy forest. Scared and confused he starts to cry only to find out his whole chain of command is there including Sergeant Austin. I think Sergeant Austin did this to try curb Wes's arrogance and pride down some. I think that this kind of humiliation would do a good job of destroying any mans pride.
1. Other than his family, I think that a lot of people warned Wes, although he did not really listen. Although Wes had some friends that influenced his downfall in behavior, he also had some friends who did encourage him to be the best he could be, and for him to do better. Once he got to military school, he was now influenced by the Sargents who I think will really help him too.
ReplyDelete2. When reading this statement, I was confused at first, but once I kind of understood, I did realize how sad this was. The statement made me feel really bad about stereotyping in the world, because it is stating that illiterate people, or people who received bad education are likely to end up in prison. This to me is not true at all, and the stereotype of this makes me really upset to hear. I believe that no matter what education you get you can end up anywhere.
3. Author Wes’s parents and grandparents and people he was close with spent a lot of money for him to receive a good education. It was important to Wes’s mom that he received a good education but was disappointed when he threw his work ethic away and ended up getting on a bad path. His mom and grandparents and close family friends then spent a lot of money on him to go to military school, in hopes to get him to shape up.
4. From a really young age, Tony had tried so hard to make it so Wes was not like him. Tony tried to protect Wes until he couldn’t. Tony really wanted to live the life that Wes got and he did not want him to mess it up. When Wes got into helping drug dealers, Tony got really mad, and I think that when Wes went to jail, he was scared into being better.
5. Sergeant Austin tricks author Wes into thinking he can escape on his fourth day of military school, but of course since it was a trick, it does not work out for Wes. Wes is given a detailed description on how to get to the train station to get back home, but it is a fake map. He ends up in the middle of the woods, and they find him and bring him back to school, Wes gets to call his mom, and Sergeant Austin realizes he has work cut out for him.
Good response, Acadia--especially in regards to prompt # 2. It's hard to imagine why folks would stereotype in this manner.
DeleteQuestion #1
ReplyDeleteWes Moore was on a bad road and the people around him could see it. His mother and grandparents saw it and tried all they could to help him back the right path. His Grandparents sacrificed a lot. They sent him to a military school hoping that would straighten him out. The Military officer offered him help and to leave the school because he could see he didn't want to be there. Many people in his life tried to help him stay on the right course and he did because of the military school. He tried to leave but couldn't and instead went back to the school.
Question #2
The statement that author Wes Moore stated feels wrong. It makes me feel disturbed and wrong. Third graders, there are only third graders. To think that they estimate it off of third graders reading skills is so disturbing and weird. It feels like basically there saying if you have a bad reading score in third grade you're doomed from there. It’s very discouraging and doesn't seem right.
Question #3
His family sacrificed a lot for Wes Moore to go to Military school to try and put him on a better path and try to save his future. His grandparents sacrificed a lot to let him go there and in the end it was worth it. He got back on the right path. Without the help of his family who knew what would have happened or where he wouldn't have been. His family did a lot to support and help him. Even though it wasn't something that he wanted in the moment it helped him out in the end and was the right move.
Question #4
Tony tried to tell Wes Moore that this wasn't good and he shouldn't do it but Wes Moore's angry fueled by his father was stronger. Tony tried but failed, Wes Moore continued his life of drugs and violence which led him down a bad path. Tony did all that was possible to help Wes Moore but nothing was successful and Wes Moore ended up in prison anyway.
Question #5
Sargent Austin gave Wes Moore a map to leave military school because he could tell that Wes Moore did not want to be there. The Map was to a train to leave the military school. He didn't end up making it on the train and headed back to military school and stayed there which ended up for the better. I think Sargeant Austin gave him the map because it was very clear he didn't want to be there and that the school didn't want him if he didn't want to be here.
~Mary Veracka
Good response to question 2, Mary. With #5, though, I do think the Sgt. wanted Moore there, but was trying to teach him a lesson.
DeleteResponse 1:
ReplyDeleteThe author Wes Moore is finding himself heading towards a dangerous way of life--selling drugs and illegally graffitiing. One day, he and his friend are arrested for vandalism. The cop who detains them, however, seems to be sympathetic to their situation and merely warns them to not get carried away before releasing them. The officer tells them that it would be in their best interest to drop this dangerous way of life, so they won’t get in more trouble in the future. The officer is fairly kind to them, telling them they’re “way too young” to be arrested (83). Wes is terrified and regretful--he knows that if the officer hadn’t been compassionate about him and his friend’s tough situation, his fate could have been in the hands of the police and he could have lost “all control of [his] life” (83). At least, he’s terrified and regretful for that moment. Just a week later, he’s back out graffitiing again. At the moment, he wasn’t doing well in school and was very unmotivated to learn. It may be that illegal graffiti was just more appealing as a pastime--more entertaining, more rewarding, more thrilling. He seems to be a rather restless kid, and adventurous activities--albeit illegal ones--are probably just more interesting to him than things like school.
Response 2:
Reading this simply made me feel angry. The idea that the government is reacting to children’s ability in school with the prediction that they’ll end up in jail instead of providing academic support is abhorrent and, quite frankly, classist. It’s a known fact that lower-income children don’t always have equal and reliable access to education like kids from higher-income families do. The government ignoring the academic struggles of kids with fewer resources is just further widening this opportunity gap. Furthermore, it’s no coincidence that lower class people and Black Americans are far more likely to be incarcerated than wealthier white people--this is a result of the opportunity and resources gap that the government is creating. The reason why the government might label lower class children as “going to end up imprisoned” from as young as third grade is purposeful, and a prime example of the systemic oppression of the lower class.
Response 3:
The author Wes Moore was able to go to better schools was because his family paid more money for them. This meant that his mom was extremely overworked. Working multiple jobs and very long hours, she was sacrificing a lot of energy for Wes to be able to go to a nice school. However, the fact that the author Wes Moore was able to get a better education solely because of the amount of money his mother put into it ties directly into my previous response about the opportunity gap in education. Simply stated, the author Wes went to a more expensive school and ended up being a New York Times bestselling author. The other Wes went to a less expensive school and ended up in a Maryland prison.
Response 4:
The author Wes Moore’s brother, Tony, tries to convince him to stop dealing drugs because Tony believes that Wes has potential that would be wasted this way. When talking to him doesn’t work, Tony initiates a fight. This clearly doesn’t work either. Wes thinks that his brother isn’t really in a great place to tell him to stop dealing drugs, as Tony is “in the game” himself. Wes doesn’t decide to stop dealing because as he sees it, he doesn’t have any better options. It seems like Wes’s point of view is that if his brother does it successfully, the consequences can’t be that bad.
Response 5:
Sergeant Austin gives the author Wes a map to the train station, claiming that this will help him see his family. Wes is overjoyed at this, and decides to sneak out at midnight to follow the map. Instead of leading him to the train station, however, the map leaves him terrified and lost in the middle of the woods, hopeless. He realizes that the map was a cruel prank not intended to help him at all. The only reason Sergeant Austin did this was to humiliate him and get him in trouble.
- Leo
Sorry--in the fourth response I meant prisoner Wes Moore, not author Wes Moore. And in the first one, I got the two Weses mixed up--the author doesn't sell drugs.
Delete- Leo
Leo, I really like what you said in response to Prompt 2. Well done. For Prompt 5, do you think it's possible that the Sgt. was trying to teach Moore a lesson?
Delete1. Wes Moore had started skipping school and letting his grades plummet. His mother was getting increasingly concerned, but none of her warnings seemed to sink in. Finally, one day, Wes was caught with his friend after graffitiing on a street corner. Two police officers handcuffed them, and while Wes’s friend made excuses and denied what he did, Wes just apologized. The boys weren’t arrested, but they were warned about what the outcome of their actions could be. The officer told them that if they don’t “get smart” (83), they’ll meet the police again. Wes was so intimidated in the moment that he told himself he needed to try harder in school and stop slacking off. But a week later, he was back running around the streets of the Bronx. His desire to fit in with his friends overwhelmed his desire to become a better person. He didn’t have the motivation to listen to the police officer, so he fell right back into his old ways.
ReplyDelete2. I was really shocked to learn that police officers predicted the number of beds they’d need by looking at the reading scores of third graders. Though in third grade, many students aren’t doing so well academically, they have so much time to improve. There are ten years in between third grade and twelfth grade. If they are given the support and guidance needed to succeed, they can flourish in their later years of school. Wes Moore is a good example of this. When he transferred to a school that worked for him (although he wasn’t happy about it at first), he became the top student of his class and went on to receive the Rhodes Scholar award.
3. The author Wes Moore’s family made a lot of sacrifices to get him into a better school. His mother saved up all the money she had, but still had to ask for help from Wes’s grandparents and many of their other relatives. The prisoner Wes Moore’s mother also wanted Wes to be successful, but she was very preoccupied with her own life and didn’t have many well-to-do family members to ask for help. Both mothers wanted the best for their children, but the author’s mother was extremely lucky to have scraped together enough money to put him in a private school.
4. The prisoner Wes Moore’s older brother, Tony, was very involved in drug dealing even as a young adult. He had many regrets about his life, and while he felt it was too late for him to turn back, he wanted to make sure Wes didn’t make the same mistakes as him. While Wes was still young and easily influenced, Tony constantly reminded him to stay out of drug dealing. But since Wes was completely surrounded by the drug industry, and he saw how much money he could make from getting involved, he didn’t heed his brother’s warnings. The temptation was too strong.
5. When Wes (the author) first arrived at military school, he tried to run away four times in the first week. He wanted to go back to the Bronx, where his mother and friends were. One of the sergeants at the school told him he would help Wes escape, so he drew a map that he claimed led to the train station. That night, with the map, a few snacks, and a flashlight in hand, Wes made his escape. But the map was fake, and he ended up deep in the woods where Sergeant Austin had been waiting. I think part of the reason Sergeant Austin did this was because Wes was an easy target for a prank. He was only a plebe, the lowest military standing. I also think Austin did this to help Wes understand what life would be like at military school. Wes’s lack of respect for his superiors made him a bit too cocky, but this experience helped him realize that he needed to treat others with the civility they were entitled to.
Well done, Ceci. You're right to be shocked in regards to #2. Your other responses are also very good.
DeleteDaniel Markwood
ReplyDeletePrompt 1) Author Wes Moore was caught spray painting with a friend. The police put him in handcuffs. I think an important part of this altercation was the feeling Wes described himself having. One of helplessness and fear. One of the cops talked to Wes seriously and compassionately. He seemed to have a real concern for Wes and talked him into a decision that Wes would never ever go back because of the fear and stress it caused. Sadly Wes was back to his old ways in a short time. In my mind there was no recovery path for him. While making a resolution is fine in your mind if you don't work hard every day with a smart mentor it won't help much.
Prompt 2) This makes me feel disappointed, not because I think somethings inherently wrong with the metric but rather because this is accepted and left alone. The problem in my mind is society's path for these people leads to a bad life. While it may be true that those kids end up in that situation the idea we can't do anything about it is false and tragic because that's what leads to the downfall of certain people who aren't in as bad a place as is agreed upon by the politicians.
Prompt 3) Ultimately author Wes Moors' mother was what allowed him to go to better schools. She made many many sacrifices including working two jobs and not affording certain luxuries that would be prevalent to most families even in such situations as themselves. Things like clothes and food I would assume were cut at some level and primarily his mothers time was a resource that was sacrificed for his betterment.
Prompt 4) Tony Wes’ brother tries to convince him from the time he was a child that drugs and street crime is a bad thing and a dishonorable pursuit. When he found his brother selling drugs he beat him up. This doesn't work because, in my mind, his brother was being hypocritical. He was selling drugs himself and his brother was wrongly idolising him. Wes tried to be like his brother and that led him down a bad path.
Prompt 5) The sergeant gave Wes a map that he claimed had a train station on it. Wes having started military school under enforcement of his mother hated the experience and wanted to get away. The map leads instead into the middle of the woods where many commanding figures were waiting. This appeared to affect him and humble him in a valuable way.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete1. Outside of his family, a policeman warned author Wes Moore about the bad path he was on. Wes and his friend had just graffitied a wall, and the police caught them and put them in the back of their car in handcuffs. Wes was terrified in the moment, and told himself that he would never put himself in a position like that again. But a week later, Wes was back out tagging the streets of the Bronx. I don’t think the policeman’s warning stuck because Wes was at a point in his life where he just didn’t care anymore. He was barely attending school and mostly wanted to fit in with his friends. Doing graffiti was something that many of his friends did, and he clearly didn’t care about being arrested very much because the policeman’s warning wore off quickly.
2. When I read the statement about the governor deciding how many beds prisons would need by looking at the reading scores of third graders, I felt frustrated and slightly offended. I felt like the governors were being very rude and making assumptions about these third graders. First of all, test scores don’t always reflect a student’s skill level. Some of the kids who got bad scores on their reading tests might have been fine readers. And if some of those kids were actually not very good at reading, it doesn’t automatically mean that they are going to make bad life choices. Those kids still have a lot of time to improve their reading skills, but even if they don't get better at reading, that doesn't mean that they will grow up to break the law and be put in jail. People with any academic skill level can be put in jail, and I think the way some governors decide the number of beds their jails will need is pretty insulting. For example, author Wes Moore didn’t have great reading skills when he was in third grade, and the assumption that he would end up in jail was made, but he grows up to go to a good college and be very smart instead.
3. Author Wes Moore had the opportunity to go to better schools than prisoner Wes Moore because his family was very concerned about him and made a lot of sacrifices, especially his grandparents. Instead of using the money they had to pay for their retirement, they spent it on military school for Wes. Prisoner Wes Moore’s mother was worried about her son as well, but she had seen her older son go down the same path that her younger son was now going down, so it made less of an impact on her. She might have also felt like trying to get her son a good education was hopeless at that point and was too caught up in her jobs to help him.
4. Tony tried to dissuade prisoner Wes Moore from following his illegal path by telling him that the kind of life he led would not be good for Wes. Tony constantly told Wes that he had potential and could go far in life if he stayed on the right path. However, it didn’t work because Wes looked up to Tony a lot and wanted to be just like him. Tony was far into the drug game and tried to warn Wes that it led to no good, but Wes ended up following in his footsteps and got into selling drugs anyway.
5. Sergeant Austin gives author Wes Moore a map with false directions on how to get to a nearby train station. When Wes follows the map it leads him into the woods where he breaks down and his troop finds him. He is then brought back to the school and has to stay there. I think Sergeant Austin did this because he knew how badly Wes wanted to go home, but he knew that his mother would not let him go back and that the school couldn’t let him go back either. Wes’s family sent him to military school because they were worried about him and wanted him to be in a new environment. A change needed to be made in Wes’s life so they sent him to military school with the hope that his life would improve. Sergeant Austin probably wanted Wes’s life to improve as well, and he knew that for that to happen, Wes had to stay at the military school for more than just a few days.
1.After spray painting, A. Wes Moore and his friend both got arrested. The author is a bit more scared than his friend, but he continued to spray paint despite the risk of arrest again. I think this was the warning for him. I think the change didn’t stick because the author had gotten over it quickly. It was the mindset of “it happened to me once and I survived. I can do it again.”
ReplyDelete2.I feel like it is a bit unfair. Just because a child’s grades are not good does not mean they are destined to be in prison. The ability of a child should not represent the child’s morals and lifestyle. I know some children will turn out to have good lives and others will not, but it feels like the people are expecting these children to fill their hypothesis and become an inmate.
3.I think familiarity let A. Wes Moore go to better schools than P. Wes Moore. The author’s mother moved her family to live with their grandparents in the Bronx and enrolled her children into private schools that were much better than the nearby public schools. His mother had the support of her parents as well so she was not entirely alone. But P. Wes Moore’s mother did not have as much support as the author’s did. Mary wanted what was best for her son but she just did not have the support to give the best to him and his siblings.
4.Tony tried to lead his brother away from drug dealing by telling him how bad he has/had it. I think deep down Tony hoped his gunshot wounds would scare P. Wes Moore away from the drugs and would become something other than Tony. I think the main reason that did not work was just because of P. Wes Moore’s curiosity. He just wanted to have the same headset as a guy. However, he did not stop when he realized he would have to deal drugs to get them. I think everyone can sort of relate to that. Even though you have been warned multiple times not to do something, you think it might not be that bad if you do it.
5.The map A. Wes Moore received was of how to leave the fort and get to the train station. But it turns out the map was fake and a “trap”. I believe that Sergeant Austin gave A. Wes Moore the map to test his trust and willingness to leave the fort. The author trusted the sergeant very quickly.
- Saylor B
I like what you said (in question2) about fulfilling the hypothesis. Excellent point. With number 5, though, I wonder if it was more about the Sgt. teaching Wes Moore a lesson?
Delete1. After Author Wess began skipping class, his grades started to reflect his absence at school. His mother is concerned for him, but she is not the only one who warns him about his actions. One day, Wess is caught graffiting on a wall by two police officers. Wess is very scared in the moment and is eventually let go, but not without an attempted scare by the police Officer. He warns Wess of what his behavior will lead to, and in the moment Wess seems to appreciate it. However, the narrator Wess then states that a week later he was doing the exact activities that got him in trouble in the first place, so the policeman’s words did not have a huge impact on him.
ReplyDelete2. When I read this I was shocked, and infuriated. This correlation shows that these children’s lives are already set for them before the age of eight. What is even more appalling is that the governor of New York would look at these statistics without concern, or any intention of improving the education systems and career path preparation for youth at all. People in power were obviously aware of the horrendous conditions of poverty and the subjection to crime that these kids were under. However, rather than attempt to make a difference they instead prepared for the next generation of convicts who they will gladly stuff into cells to help a multibillion dollar industry that rips communities apart.
3. Author Wess Moore’s family originally came from a more affluent and supportive background than the other Wess’. Both of his grandparents are available for child support, allowing his mother to work two jobs in order to pay the tuition of his and his sibling’s schooling. In order for him to go to military school, his mother had to reach out to their extended family and ask for money. His grandparents also had to use most of their savings to pay for his tuition.
4. After finding out that Wess is selling drugs, Tony is very mad and loses his temper. When Wess continues to lie to him, Tony beats him up. Physical abuse is never good, or an effective way to communicate. It did not instill much in Wess other than fear. He looks up to his brother, but is confused about why Tony does not want Wess to be like him. He also feels that Tony is a bit hypocritical; he expects Wess to find better opportunities and another way to live even though he could not.
5. Sargent Austin gives Wess a map that will supposedly lead him to the train station. His plan is to sneak out in the dead of night and run away. He does sneak out, but quickly realizes that the map is fake and leads nowhere. With a surface level glance at the situation, one might conclude that Sargent Austin did this just to be mean. But, perhaps he did it to teach Wess the lesson that he should stop spending his energy on plans to run away, and rather on how to get the most out of his experience at the school.
This is a really good point you make here Mary: But, perhaps he did it to teach Wes the lesson that he should stop spending his energy on plans to run away, and rather on how to get the most out of his experience at the school.
DeleteI think that's really it. I think he was really trying to teach Moore a lesson. Well done.
1. Wes met up with his old friend Shea and together they graffiti the back wall of a lounge. When the cops catch them and throw them in the back of the police car, one of the officers confronts the two boys. The officer told Wes he didn't want to see him anymore but if he kept on this bad path he might have to and that would be sad. This got to Wes and he understood that he needed to try harder and better himself. He knew he needed to stop doing stupid stuff like what he had just been doing.
ReplyDelete2. Reading this made me feel very uncomfortable. Judging a person by their intelligence is seriously messed up especially if they’re third graders. The governors basing the number of beds on reading ability says that they think all people who end up in jail are stupid and can’t read. Third graders are still progressing and they won’t be as strong of a reader for a long time. If the governors are serious about using third-graders’ reading scores then they could determine the number of beds by seeing which one-month-old babies can lift their heads. It's the same test.
3. Author Wes Moore’s mother valued schooling and wanted Wes to have a good education. Although Wes didn’t work his hardest or even attend school somedays, his mother works very hard for him to attend Riverdale instead of public school. Wes’s mother had multiple jobs and when she chose to send him to military school she had to ask relatives for money and her parents gave her the few thousands she was missing instead of returning to Jamaica. The prisoner Wes Moore’s mother worked and had no immediate family to turn to for help. Unlike the author, Wes’s mother didn't have her parents for help or another source of income.
4. Wes Moore always looked up to his brother Tony. He always wanted to be just like him. Tony constantly tried to change Wes’s mind saying that he didn’t want the life Tony had and that he had other options Tony chose not to take. When Wes starts getting into drug dealing, he has more money than he had ever had and started buying new clothes and shoes. When Tony finds Wes’s collection of Nikes and questions Wes about where he got the money. Wes continues to say he got the money DJing and while Tony knows he’s lying, their mother takes Wes’s side knowing her son would never lie to her. Wes’s mother questions her quick judgment later and finds shoe boxers under Wes’s bed and learns that her youngest did lie to her and that her oldest was right. Wes is now continuing on the same path Tony followed whether Tony likes it or not.
5. The map Sargent Austin gives Wes is the directions for how to get to the train so Wes can leave the school and go home. Wes leaves his room and exits the school after taps when everyone is in their rooms asleep. Following the directions Sargent Austin gave him, Wes soon finds himself lost. Wes, starting to cry, hears laughing in the bushes next to him. Out of the bushes comes Sargent Austin and Sargeant Batt. The directions given to Wes were fake. The Sargents lead Wes back to the school and Wes calls his mother. Sargent Austin gave Wes the fake directions to teach Wes that he had to stop running away from things. Running would get Wes anywhere in life and his family had made too many sacrifices for him to be there for him to just run away.
I really liked what you talked about with prompt three. I think that it is a very valid point that one of the reasons prisoner Wes was not able to attend as nice a school was because his mom did not have any family to reach out to and ask for funds to help send him to school.
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