On the picture of Val, LaRee has a comment that it was taken a year and a half after the accident. but I just had to get those points out there. And the selection involves not just being an expert in your field, but having a broad perspective, being logical, and articulate.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarship is a HUGE achievement, like winning the Olympics for a young academic. The bottom line is that I did believe the gist of her story (if not every detail) and I think it is important to believe her because she has overcome huge obstacles to become extremely literate and successful. This is because she grew up in a Dickens novel as a ragamuffin and escaped to be a fine educated lady! She is still trying to figure out how to go forward in life. Did we believe Jeannette Walls in The Glass Castle which in many ways was even harder to accept (parents with means choosing to be homeless)? I think we did.įurther, anyone who watches the interviews with Tara on line will detect that she seems somewhat nervous, fragile, and lacking in self-assurance. In addition, she was honest about how her early times at BYU were very, very difficult.Īnother reason I believe her is that I know that there are cruel, ignorant, and even mentally ill parents out there and there are rural 'survivalists' hoarding supplies and accumulating guns. And the fact that she had older brothers who found a way into college was a key point. She also describes how her singing and participation in a local theater group opened up broader horizons. With respect to her lack of formal education before age 17, it is important to remember that she was taught to read (in order to read religious texts) and someone who can read and is highly intelligent will find material to read. And by calling her a fraud, readers add to her lifetime of being misunderstood and not accepted.

She is a credible witness! She provides many details and a coherent account of really awful times she came through. Although it is possible that Tara Westover exaggerated the severity of some of the injuries (perhaps because she was young and frightened at the time they happened), I am surprised and disappointed at the tone of some of the comments here implying that she is some sort of fraud.

Educated by Tara Westover