Influence of Education on People’s Lives: Example of Novels & Films

Education is a big part of many people’s lives. It gives people a wide range of opportunities that can change one’s life, beliefs, and outlook on life. But, some people don’t have that opportunity and choose to ignore the tools to create our lives because of their environment, peers, family, economical status, and self-image. In the novel, The Other Wes Moore, and the documentary, Hoop Dreams, education was the most influential in determining their futures.

Education affects vulnerable students in a negative way because of their lack of knowledge and a supportive environment, resulting in lower levels of achievement. For example, Wes (author) was getting bad grades and was skipping school., “After a series of unsatisfactory report cards, my mother had begun to think that what many of my teachers were telling her was correct…” Wes (author) was failing school and was getting bad grades, Wes (author) went to a school with much higher standards than he is used to. It was too sophisticated for him, so he got bad grades and didn’t go to school because of his lack of knowledge and standards. Another thing is, Westley, did so well in Job Corps that he was in the top of his class and he got his GED, “Wes, by contrast, finished near the top of the class. He completed the course work and received his GED a month later. He was already reading at the level of a sophomore in college”. Westley got his GED and was at the top of his class. This illuminates that education made Westley believe that he was successful, but he realized that truth and he fell back to his old roots, and he does drugs again. Furthermore, Arthur fell back from St. Joe’s to Marshall. Arthur fell back from St. Joe’s, a really sophisticated high school, to The Other Wes Moore Essay a normal high school called Marshall (James). Arthur getting pushed back communicates that Arthur went to a school with a higher class that he couldn’t meet the standards for, and was too much for him to handle mentally and financially, so he had to go to a school that didn’t have the standards to have the opportunity for something greater. However, if the education system had more focus on helping people to be successful, less expensive, and to people who really need it, these young men wouldn’t be in these situations.

Education is affected by the environment it is in. For example, Arthur goes to a new school that is more sophisticated than his old school., Arthur goes to St. Joe’s and he realizes that everything is clean and not anything like his school back in urban Chicago (James ). Arthur is surprised that his new school is fancy, the school that Arthur went to was in a more urban environment, so it was cheap and inexpensive, while this new school is in a rich urban environment, so the school there was expensive and sophisticated. Furthermore, Wes (author) moved to military school, a harsh and rougher version of Riverdale, “It was a more austere version of Riverdale, a far cry from my Bronx neighborhood”. Wes (author) switched to Valley Forge, a military school, and it was like a super strict Riverdale, Riverdale was fancier and a preppy rich school because it was along the banks of the Hudson River, but with this new school, Valley Forge had a military environment, so it was very strict. Lastly, William is sent to St. Joseph and it is more stressful, and strict, and it needs higher standards for students to meet than his other school, William goes to St. Joe’s and it is a lot more stressful and hardworking than his last school. (James). William goes to a different school and is stressed out from how different it is from his old school, his old school was in an urban environment and needed fewer standards for their students, but when he goes to St. Joe’s, it is a polar opposite for him and he gets stressed. Alternatively, if schools would look at a students’ history of grades and schools they go to and put them in classes best fit for them, or even just have them not go to that school, these young men wouldn’t be stressed and they would become more successful.

Education becomes harder when people from urban environments go to a school with higher standards. First, Wes (author) goes to a new school, Riverdale, and is surprised to see more sophisticated people in the school, “... well-dressed kids had stunned me on my first visit,” “And every time I looked at my fellow students, The Other Wes Moore Essay I was reminded of how little I fit in”. Wes (author) goes to a new school and can’t fit in with the higher standards, Wes would skip Riverdale every day because he couldn’t fit in with the standards of how sophisticated his school and how his classmates were. Another thing is, Arthur went to St. Joe’s and it was too much for him and it was expensive, so he had to stop going there, Arthur was taught hard at St. Joe’s, and for how expensive it was to be there was too much so he had to stop going there, (James ). Arthur couldn’t handle the expense of going to St. Joe’s, so he had to leave. This expresses that Arthur couldn’t handle how expensive the school was and the standards his parents had to pay for him to even be in school. Finally, William goes to St.Joe’s and the more sophisticated school stresses him out., William went to a different school, St. Joe’s, which took a toll on him from the new standards that he had to meet from training to grades, (James ). The constant training and learning caused William to get stressed out. William was stressed out because of the higher standards he had to meet. He ended up losing interest in basketball because of this. Instead, if schools focus more on the student and not make them stressed out. They should also make school less expensive.

In the novel, The Other Wes Moore, and the documentary, Hoop Dreams, education was the most influential in determining their futures. School is a lot on somebody, especially on people who are in situations where they will most likely not succeed. Some people have to go to a school with standards they don’t know or can’t fit into. Or an environment from a school can affect a kid's life and how they look at life. Even students can be affected by education in a negative way because of where they were from and get lower achievement from it. Schools should have the opportunity for vulnerable people to be able to have a good education like everybody else.