The other wes moore teaching unit

Research studies have determined many risk factors that can lead to the development of mental health issues and mental illness. These include, but are not limited to, exposure to violence, parental divorce, poverty, genetic predisposition, and dysfunctional parenting. At the same time, there have been children who faced many of these risk factors and overcame them. These children are referred as resilient, and researchers have been eager to determine how they were able to thrive under circumstances that undo other children.

Let us explore the information presented in the book The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore (2010).You can also access the author’s interview with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the form of video, audio, or text transcript at the following Web site:

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (Producer). (2010). Author Wes Moore’s book explores his own alternate reality [Video interview]. Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june10/wesmoore_05-12.html
The following is a synopsis of the book by the publisher:

Wes Moore, the author of the book The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, was surprised when one day, the police approached him for a crime he did not commit. During the investigation, he came to know of another man who had the same name—Wes Moore. The shared name was not the only coincidence: they had both grown up in the same neighborhood at about the same time. Yet, one Wes Moore went on to become a Rhodes scholar, earn honors in the military, work at the White House, and become a leader in the business community; while the other Wes Moore was sentenced to life in prison. The descriptions of the lives of both Wes Moores are illustrative of the power of heredity and environment in the shaping of a person.

As boys, both Wes Moores grew up in poor, single-parent homes and did not apply themselves in primary and secondary school. The author’s father, a newscaster, died when the author was three years old. He and his two sisters were raised by his widowed mother. Before he was a teen, he became disillusioned with school and began getting into trouble in his neighborhood, even having brushes with the law for petty crimes. His mother decided to send him to military school, but he ran away five times before finally giving the school a chance. Once he decided to stay, he gained a strong sense of purpose and developed a strong work ethic.