Educated: A Memoir

“I am only seven, but I understand that it is this fact, more than any other, that makes my family different: we don’t go to school. Dad worries that the Government will force us to go but it can’t, because it doesn’t know about us.” 

At the very beginning of her memoir, Westover gives readers one of the most important details about her family’s identity: They are different from other people because, due to her parents’ beliefs, the Westover children do not attend school. This affected Westover’s understanding of her family from a young age; not only did she know that they did not go to school, she also knew that this set her family apart from other families. 

“All my father’s stories were about our mountain, our valley, our jagged little patch of Idaho. He never told me what to do if I left the mountain, if I crossed oceans and continents and found myself in strange terrain, where I could no longer search the horizon for the Princess. He never told me how I’d know when it was time to come home.” 

Westover employs foreshadowing at the beginning of the memoir, indicating to readers that a key part of her memories involves leaving home for extended adventures. This foreshadowing also tells readers something about Westover’s father: His world is small, confined to the boundaries of his home in Idaho. Given his limited experience with the world away from home, it makes sense that he would have no framework for educating his children on how to relate to home in healthy ways when they leave it. This lack of knowledge about how to relate to home when one leaves it becomes a primary source of conflict for Westover, as depicted later in the memoir.