Tara Westover, author of the New York Times bestseller seller “Educated: A Memoir,” sparked new conversations on the University of Idaho campus Monday, as she paid a visit to Moscow to discuss her book.
“Educated: A Memoir,” which UI chose as the 2018 Common Read, deals with Westover’s childhood and struggles with her religious family’s views on secondary education.
Westover said growing up, her family abided by an extreme version of Mormonism, one she said often discouraged higher education and was often in conflict with it.
“After I had these experiences with education, I had a desire to write about it,” she said in an interview before her keynote speech Monday. “I think education is more than just a way to make a living.”
The Idaho native did not enter a classroom until she was 17 years old. She graduated magna cum laude from Brigham Young Univeristy before receiving a Master of Philosophy and doctorate in history from Trinity College, Cambridge. She was also a visiting fellow at Harvard University.
Her story resonated with one UI student, who said he faced similar childhood challenges while growing up in Boise.
Zachary Lien, a recently graduated UI student who returned from studying in Israel, said his upbringing in the Mormon church greatly affected his outlook on education from a young age. Lien said after leaving the church, he began to accept other forms of learning and began to broaden his horizons.
Anslee Lechner | Argonaut
Both Westover and Lien said their experiences with the Church of Latter-Day Saints caused strains among their family. This struggle, Westover said, created the driving force behind her decision to pen her memoir.
“I was very inspired by her willingness to share her introspection into the value of education, into her difficulties into figuring out what she wanted to do with her life, what relationships she was going to have with her family,” said Lien, the 2018 recipient of the Lindley Award — presented each year to the top student in the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. “I think she approached those topics with maturity and a lot of good insight other people could glean from.”
Lien wasn’t the only one affected by “Educated.” Westover said as the summer months began, former President Barack Obama gave her a call, offering his praise of the book. Obama eventually put “Educated” on his summer reading list.
“It was surreal. I would have never expected a former president of the United States to read something I wrote, ever,” she said. “Obama, he talks to an urban liberal crowd. It’s a crowd I hope reads the book, because it presents a way of life that maybe they haven’t encountered before.”
The University of Idaho selected the book in May for its 2018-2019 Common Read, a program in which incoming freshman are encouraged to read and discuss one novel early in the semester.
Dean Pajatta, UI director of general education, said the committee that decided on the Common Read considered a number of themes, including diversity, before settling on “Education.”
“All first year students have — theoretically — read the book and have something to talk about,” he said. “There’s a common scholarly text that they’re all working from, and that’s the idea, to build a community of scholars.”
Westover offered a glimpse into her next project in an interview with The Argonaut. She said it will surround problems children in rural areas face.
“They are very particular issues that are facing rural kids right now, especially with changes in agriculture and the death of the family farm,” she said. “I think increasingly you’re seeing kids that are trying to make it in cities, and certainly urban areas. They’re not necessarily prepared to do that. Their education hasn’t prepared them to do that.”
Brandon Hill can be reached at [email protected]
A previous version of this article misspelled Dean Pajatta’s name.