This 8 page paper looks at a case study which emanates from a New York Times 1993 article. It features a boy who was headed down the wrong path but turns his life around. The story is relayed and an attempt to explain the situation sociologically and psychologically is made. The culture of poverty thesis and systems theory are each discussed. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
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dealing young adult looking for the big score. His mother is addicted to food, but finds solace in drug addiction too. Though legal, she takes pills to get on a
dream diet show. It is surreal, but for people in that Brooklyn neighborhood, represents a reality that can only be explained by living the life. In a New York
Times article written in 1993, a mother and son are featured. The son, who could have turned into Harry, actually ended up an honor student. It is his road down
the wrong path, and then the fact that he turns his life around and heads in the right direction, makes the article an interesting case study. How does one explain
how a boy can go from being a potential drug dealer, to an exemplary student who is headed to college and maybe even medical school? There is no one explanation.
Likely, the turnaround is attributable to a multitude of psychological, biological and sociological factors. II. Case Study An article about a man by the name of Shawn
Hunt appeared in the New York Times in the early 1990s. This ordinary citizen was once, at the age of eleven, involved in drug dealing and in fact, by
the time he would turn 14 years old, would carry a gun ("Shawn," 1993). By the time he is 17, he is not in jail, but an honor student and
co-captain of the track team (1993). Not only that, but he is a youth leader at his church and works part-time in a clerical capacity at Downstate Medical Center (1993).
His future plans include Clark-Atlanta University in Georgia with majors that got to psychology or pre-med, the latter due to an interest in sports medicine (1993). Many would be awed