'Educated' by Tara Westover (Penguin Random House, 2018)
With schools still closed or partially closed due to Covid-19, education is back in the headlines. At first, it seemed like a dream scenario for many students, but the novelty soon wore off, and many are now realising the long term damage of a disrupted education. Someone who knows more than most about the challenges of catching up on missed classroom time is Tara Westover, author of memoir 'Educated'.
Tara Westover grew up in rural Idaho, USA, the youngest of seven children in a family dominated by her father. His twin obsessions were becoming as self-sufficient as possible in preparation for the end of the world, and avoiding contact with the authorities. As such, while the children didn't go to school or see doctors, they learned to preserve food, use firearms and hide resources such as fuel around the family homestead. They worked as his crew in their scrap yard, often risking life and limb in an environment where health and safety amounted to decaying steel toe-capped boots and not much else. When accidents occur, the children are treated by their herbalist mother. As she grows up, Tara's relationship with her siblings changes as they each begin living lives of their own. While Tyler shows her there may be hope beyond the farmstead, the mercurial Shawn leaves her broken and doubting her own mind. When Tara herself finally decides to pursue formal education, she manages to overcome her father's opposition, but, when challenged by life in an alien outside world, will she flee and return to the familiarity of home?
