E D U C A T E D


“An amazing story, and truly inspiring. It’s even better than you’ve heard.”
— BILL GATES

 

By Tara Westover

    Tara lived with her family in Idaho. She had never been to formal schooling as her father was against public schools. She had five brothers (Tyler, Richard, Tony, Shawn and Luke) and one sister (Audrey). She learnt reading and writing from Tyler. She helped her mother in her herbal-ism and they stockpiled home-canned peaches for the end of the world. In winter seasons, she would be busy in her father’s junkyard. They stored arms and ammunition (if in case any war emerges).

She always faced an extreme oppression from her brother Shawn, when reported the same to her parents, they didn’t believe her at first and told to bring proof to prove her statements and later they never intervened.

They never trusted Government, so none of her family member had applied for birth certificate, driving license or any kind of records and proofs. Whenever they are ill, undergone accident or someone had an injury, no matter how small or big it is, they never made it to hospital because they believed doctors are Satan (evil) and will try to kill them, so they treated themselves using the herbs prepared at their home by their mother.

Tara taught herself, wrote an Act exam and went to Brigham Young University and got Gates foundation scholarship. She was interested in Holocaust and civil rights movement. Her curious interests led her to cross oceans and continue her education in Oxford and Cambridge.

 She was stuck between her family’s illusionistic principles and the reality (to know more, in her case it was education). Day-by-day it was getting hard for her to choose between her family and education. If she chooses family, she had to give up her education (because her family will never accept her if she continues with education, to them it was an ill-act and if she accepts her family then she has to tolerate her family’s oppression) and if she choose education then she has to give up her family. Among the choices she selected education because education proved her that her family was always wrong and it taught her that, she has right to live and not to tolerate that oppression.
  
 Takeaways
1.Education is the most important enlightening factor helps to distinguish between illusion and reality.

2.Education is like ladder, with each step your knowledge gets enriching and helps us in reaching our goal.

 


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