Raising Our Expectations: A Force Multiplier of Hope

By Wes Moore

It’s hard to read Don’t Quit On Me without feeling like the report is talking about my own life. After I wrote The Other Wes Moore, a book about a man who shared my name but ended up in a maximum-security prison while I went to Oxford, people often wanted to know what made me so different from him.

And the more I tried to answer that question, the more I realized that it wasn’t about who I was at all. It wasn’t about who he was either.

Instead, it was about who we had — or in his case, didn’t have — to support us.

Without my family and mentors, my fellow soldiers, ordinary people who stepped up to serve in ways large and small, who saw themselves as links in the chain of humanity, I wouldn’t be the Wes Moore I am today.

If there was ever any doubt that relationships, that mentors and adults can make a difference in the lives of young people, this report proves otherwise.

When we talk about what disadvantaged kids need, I agree with those who have said it mostly comes down to more: more relationships and more resources.

But I also believe young people need something less tangible from us, but no less important: higher expectations.

In my experience, young people will live up to the expectations we set for them, no matter what those expectations are. If we expect kids to fall into a cycle of violence, they’ll expect the same thing of themselves.

But if we expect and encourage them to believe in themselves, that they’re capable of more, then their own beliefs and behavior are much more likely to follow suit.

At BridgeEdU, the nonprofit I founded, we rely heavily on mentors to set high expectations for our students and encourage them to achieve all that they are capable of. These coaches provide encouragement and guidance, but they also provide a huge network of individuals ready to help our students even after graduation.

We know how much mentors and role models matter, even after you’ve “made it.”

My dad passed away when I was just a boy, so I had to grow up without him. But I often looked to a man I had never even met for words of wisdom and encouragement, a man I still consider a sort of mentor: General Colin Powell.

And as he has so famously said, “Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.”

When we really believe in kids, when we talk not only about what they’ve been through or where they from, but what they can do and what they’re capable of — when we encourage them and expect the best for them — there’s no telling what can happen.

I believe that, just by changing the narrative and expectations about what young people with the odds stacked against them can really accomplish, we can be force multipliers for hope their lives.

In fact, I don’t just believe it; I expect nothing less.

Wes Moore is the Founder and CEO of BridgeEdU, a social enterprise dedicated to reinventing the Freshman Year and creating a softer on-ramp to higher education for students entering their freshman year of college. Wes is also an American author, social entrepreneur, producer, political analyst, and decorated US Army officer.

Follow Wes on Twitter at @WesMoore1.