Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

Author: Tara Westover

Media Type Consumed: Audio Book

Link to Book: Educated: A Memoir

My Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

My Review

This book was very well written - straightforward and engaging - and it really forced me to reflect on my own life and how I'm raising my own children. There are a lot of different themes that can be pulled from this book. Additionally, this book really resonated with me because of my paralleled religious upbringing, and how I ended up changing as a result of that. Fortunately, my parents and family are not anything like Tara's.

Kids can be very resilient. Tara goes through some extremely horrific and terrible events in this book. Her parents basically brainwashed her when she was younger. This is in part due to their religion, but moreso because of their mental illnesses that compounded them taking those beliefs to an extreme. With all of that, and an abusive brother, Tara was able to come out of the situation as a very successful and "normal" adult. She has plenty of scars, and likely deals with those still on a regular basis. But her ability to be able to balance her traumatic upbringing really emphasizes how resilient children can be.

Learning is done in different ways, and motivation plays a big part in that. I received a standard public education. I was not a Rhodes Scholar. Tara's learning happened on her own - out of a few books that she purchased (generally with her own money), and through her life experiences. Some people are able to learn math from a book, and focused enough to do so. The motivation for Tara in this book was quite strong - to go to college. Her motivation was quite strong to do so though. Many students are unable to take a math book and teach themselves math, but they also don't have a strong driving force behind that. The fact that she not only got into BYU, but also was able to graduate with close to a 4.0 GPA (we never learn that for sure) is quite a testament to how everyone learns differently.

Let your kids be themselves. This was the most frustrating part of this book for me. As a parent, I want my kids to be well rounded individuals with good manners. I try to instill in them good manners and a strong will. The parents in this book would seem to have some mentally illnesses that led them to instill a sense of fear in their children around many things. Additionally, they set some strong boundaries around what men and women should be. I'd argue that letting your children learn for themselves and guiding them along the way will lead to a healthier long term relationship and help them far more than instilling a sense of fear.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book. I'd highly recommend it to parents and non-parents alike. The great thing about a book like this is that it really causes you to reflect on different things in your own life that you'd like to change or do better in the future.