Hoop Dreams Essay

    Hoop Dreams is a movie about two boys; Aurthur and William, who go from there rough neighborhood in Chicago to peruse their dreams of making it to the NBA and getting a better life for themselves. To reach these dreams they had to overcome many different challenges. Some struggles that they had were race, class, economic division and education.
   When William and Aurthur start at the high school that recruited them St. Joesph's they are two of the very few African Americans at their school. Most of the other African Americans are also at the school to play basketball. It did not seem that they were discriminated against because of their race, but because of their race it was rarer to see people of their same race at their school. They also had an hour and half commute to their new school because it was so far away from their neighbor hood which was majority African Americans. In my school we have good diversity. Everyone is respectful and gets along. We do not hold some one's race against them and are accepting of everyone. I am grateful that i don't have to worry about my race and what people are going to do to me because of it.

    Their class and economic division make it very difficult for these boys to get out of their current neighbor hood. They do not have the money to move or go to a better school. William is able to attend St. Joe's because he has received scholarships. Otherwise he would not be able to go to a private school outside of his district. Unfortunately Aurthur is forced to leave the school because he is unable to pay for part of his education. He gets a practical scholarship to help pay but the money that his family becomes too much and he must leave the school and attend a school closer to his home. Their parents did not go to college and were not able to get good jobs. That is why they aren't able to leave their dangerous neighborhood and are not able to pay for their kids education. Luckily Aurthur's mom was able to return to school and get a better job. No matter what their parents have done, all of their parents want to see their kids get a better life. I am fortunate that in my life both my parents went to college and also want me to do the same. I do not have to worry about paying for school, food or my home. We are lucky not to have to be  concerned about those things. My neighbor hood is safe and most of my friends also have parents that have jobs and want all of us to become as successful as we can be.
   When both William and Aurthur entered high school they had a very very low reading level and needed to work very hard to be able to graduate in four years. Within their freshman year they made great leaps and bounds in their education. But unfortunately when Aurthur had to leave St. Joe's his grades started to drop and he did not put his best foot forward. He needed to attend summer school to keep on track to graduate. When Aurthur attended Marshall he also was around other students who would not take school seriously which caused him to also lose focus. William on the other hand works very hard for his grades and needs to get a 18 on his ACT to qualify of his full ride scholarship to Marquette. Everyone around him  is encouraging him to get good grades and work hard. Also the teachers at his school are able to teach him and keep him focused better than the teachers at Aurthur's school. In my school they want to help everyone get into college and have also have a lot of programs to help people. I am on the track to college and so are most of my friends. It is what we and our families want for us.
   William went to Marquette and was able to graduate but not without its difficulties. He almost dropped out but everyone was able to encouraging him to stay in school. He was able to become a real estate agent. One hardship he did have was his brother Curtis died in 2001. He was able to overcome all of his challenges and create a great life for himself. Aurthur was also not able to reach his goal of the NBA. He was able to graduate from college. His dad was murdered later in his life. But also like William he created a new life for himself. This movie was very inspirational is shows that no matter where you come from you can over come it and succeed.