What does ‘educated’ mean? Children first learn the fundamentals of literacy, numeracy, science, history and geography. Gradually, they also acquire higher-order skills like reasoning, deducing, and inferring. When children use these skills and knowledge to pass a series of exams, we consider them to be ‘educated’. But what does an education entail? And, how does it impact the construal of a self?
In her gripping memoir, Educated , writer, Tara Westover challenges conventional notions of what it means to be educated. Raised in rural Idaho, the youngest of seven children, Tara never sets foot in a school. Nor, is she properly home-schooled apart from learning to read. Living with a controlling father with an undiagnosed psychiatric condition and a subservient mother, Tara grows up in a chaotic home. An older brother abuses her physically while her parents look away.
Yet, she not only survives but makes her way to college, and earns a doctorate in history from Cambridge University.
Drawing inspiration
Tara narrates her harrowing tale of growing up in a bizarre household with a brutal and chilling honesty. As she grapples between her loyalty towards her family and her very selfhood, she dwells on what it means to be an individual, part of a family and a member of society. She considers the meaning of an education, possibly in the deepest sense. What lessons can educators glean from Tara’s punishing yet inspiring life?
Weak starts can be righted: When Tara arrives at Brigham Young University (BYU), the only education she has had is what she has taught herself, which isn’t much as Tara doesn’t have many books at home.
During her first semester, when Tara asks what the Holocaust is in a history class, her professor is speechless and her classmates stunned. Unable to fathom why her question raised so many eyebrows, Tara heads over to the computer lab and looks up “Holocaust” on the web and is transfixed both by the atrocities she reads about and her own ignorance of them. Further, she is confused for an entire month because she thinks Europe is a country, and is thus befuddled by whatever the professor says. Because she embarrassed herself by asking the Holocaust question, Tara doesn’t raise her hand. Understandably, she fails her first quiz. However, on the next exam, she manages to get a B, and is getting A’s by the end of the semester.
Tara’s example highlights that we shouldn’t judge students too early or on single test performances. Many students have lacunae in their learning, for no fault of theirs. But with time and access to resources, motivated students fill in the gaps and even excel. Tara was able to catch up incredibly fast. But others, too, can reach great heights if given the opportunity to make up for disadvantaged starts.
Importance of a role model: With parents who disparaged bookish knowledge, Tara doesn’t have any adult role models. She hears the word ‘college’ for the first time, when one of her brothers, Tyler, announces that is enrolling in one.
Tara and Tyler share a ritual every evening. They scuttle into Tyler’s room and put on a CD. While Tyler studies at his desk, Tara lies on the floor, listening to music. After her brother leaves for college, Tara pulls his boom box, desk and chair into her room. And, just as Tyler would, Tara begins to read. As she doesn’t have many books, she reads the Book of Mormon , the Old and New Testament .
“In retrospect,” says Tara, “I see that this was my education…the hours I spent sitting at a borrowed desk…in mimicry of a brother.” Doing so, she gains a significant skill, “the patience to read things (she) could not yet understand.” Role models can come in myriad forms and subtle cues can ignite a learning spark.
Power of mentors: Tara initially joins BYU to study music. But it is her history courses that compel her. Unable to decide what to study, she seeks counsel from her history professor. When he learns of her unusual upbringing, Dr. Kerry probably spots latent talents in Tara. He encourages her to stretch herself and apply for a study abroad programme at Cambridge University. Tara hasn’t heard of the prestigious institution till then.
She applies but gets rejected. However, Dr. Kerry doesn’t give up and writes to the university. So, Tara ends up in King’s College. It is here that her supervisor, Professor Steinberg, kindles her interest in historiography. Like Dr. Kerry, Professor Steinberg learns Tara’s own history and background by talking to her. During weekly meetings, he examines and hones Tara’s writing skills.
When she submits her first essay, Professor Steinberg says that Tara’s work is among the best he has read in his 30-year tenure at Cambridge. But Tara is still filled with misgivings on whether she belongs in Cambridge. Dr. Kerry reassures her, “The most powerful determinant of who you are is inside you.”
While Tara should be given full credit for her remarkable achievements, we cannot discount the role of two perceptive and empathetic mentors who understood the broader context of their student and nurtured her untapped potential.
self-reflection in education: Even though Tara’s childhood is punctuated by grievous physical injuries, her psychological wounds traumatise her. Possibly the hardest decision she has to make is not relenting to her parents’ world-view even though this would put an end to her relationship with them. After a lot of agonising self-reflection, she stands her ground and doesn’t give into their reality though she loves them deeply. If she chooses her parents over the truth she now believes in, she will “lose custody of (her) own mind.”
Tara asks, “What is a person to do…when their obligations to their family conflict with other obligations—to friends, to society, to themselves?” Tara also realises that she is “not the child (her) father raised” though he remains that same man. She calls this transformation “an education”.
Fortunately, most students don’t have to contend with gruelling choices like Tara. Yet, for an education to be truly meaningful, it has to involve self-reflection, both on the part of the student and the teacher.
Educated illustrates that there are multiple ways an individual can grow and learn. A real education involves an appreciation of its relevance, introspection and an understanding of the larger context. If we expand our view of what an education encompasses, more students may discover and awaken dormant capabilities in myriad and unique ways.
The author is Director, PRAYATNA. arunasankara@gmail.com.
