Nature Vs. Nurture In The Other Wess Moore's The Other Wes Moore

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Humans are widely diverse: with a population over seven billion, each containing unique personalities, experiences, beliefs, morals, just how much of a person’s individual humanity can he or she consider their own creation? In the field of psychology, there is a debate called Nature vs. Nurture which considers the effects of environmental and hereditary traits on the development of personality. Despite being perhaps the largest topic in psychology, there has yet to be an accurate answer as to how much either Nature or Nurture plays in one’s life, but, there is an underlying debate which is even more existentially troubling: how much of an individual’s lifestyle is in their control. In The other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, Moore explores the lifestyles …show more content…
Though each person may be given the exact same options in their life, the experiences surrounding those options will be what truly influences the outcomes. Every American citizen is given the right to a basic education: Kindergarten through twelfth grade to prepare a student for the career of their choice to maximize their happiness and quality of life. Despite this truth, all Americans recognize that despite the opportunity, not everyone will make the same choice, in fact, a good number of people will not even complete this level of education. This event is largely a product of the environment people get their basic education in, for it is impossible to say that there would be this level of variance in choices if it were not for the reinforcement of the environment of the student. Within the social environment, wealth is often considered the strongest factor in quality of life. If you have more money, you are more capable of reaching new opportunities: going to college, having an SAT tutor, working on school work instead of getting a job, or even getting to go to a military school like Moore. Having this wealth takes away the pressure of survival and allows for greater expansion of opportunities, yet, it is not absolute. A good example of affluence if when …show more content…
Education is certainly necessary to become successful and to continue to have opportunities, yet, the true need lies in having the resources and support to pursue that education and a better life. I am sure that if the other Wes had been sent to military school, he would have ended up in a significantly better situation. Although this difference is in education, the real factor is the support of Moore’s mother sending him to military school and the financial means to do so. Although it is pitiful that the other Wes was victim of a poor community of support and suffered from a lack of opportunities, Moore was in a similar situation and proved that if there is enough desire to change, the means can be

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