Educated: A Memoir

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. With over six million Mormons in the United States today, a study by the Pew Research Center found that Mormons are among the most “devout and conservative religious people in the country.” What are the core beliefs of Mormonism? How does the largest branch of the Mormon church—Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) differ from Church of Jesus Christ of Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS)?

Teaching Suggestion: Students will likely have some familiarity with Mormonism from pop culture, including recent programs like Netflix’s “Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey” or Hulu’s “Under the Banner of Heaven.” This prompt will help students understand the difference between mainstream Mormonism and fundamentalist Mormonism. This prompt will also get students thinking about the nature of The Consequences of Belief and Doubt, as well as how religious faith affects Finding One’s Place in the World.

• Pew Research Center’s “A Portrait of Mormons in the U.S.” is a snapshot of life for Mormons in America today.
• This 2023 article by CNN explores overall Mormon beliefs, primarily focusing on the LDS. It also explains why FLDS split from the LDS.
• Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” explains the beliefs of FLDS, which the other branches of Mormonism reject.

2. In 1999, many people grew increasingly apprehensive about “Y2K,” or what the next century would bring. There was concern over a computer programming issue that did not allow four-digit dates, so that 1900 and 2000 would both be “00”; many companies predicted financial losses and computer crashes due to this problem. Some people believed Y2K would bring societal collapse due to widespread technological disaster, and others had religious visions that the world would end. What do you know about the fear and panic surrounding Y2K?

Teaching Suggestion: Like many people in 1999, Westover’s father was convinced Y2K would bring about the end of the world. Specifically, he believed that Y2K would be the moment of the Second Coming of Christ, initiating the apocalypse. This is a significant moment in the plotline of Westover’s narrative, which is tied to themes of The Challenge of Memory and Story and The Consequences of Belief and Doubt. Understanding the fervor around Y2K will give students a better understanding of Westover’s father while simultaneously painting a broader picture of what life was like at that time.

• The article “Apocalypse Then: When Y2K Didn’t Lead to the End of the World” by Forbes is a recap of the doomsday scenarios around Y2K.
• National Geographic’s “Y2K Bug” focuses on the predictions of technological disaster that were supposed to come at the start of the new millennium.

Differentiation Suggestion: For a more visual approach, a differentiation strategy would be to show students Inside Edition’s video documentary “Did the World Almost End in 2000 Because of Y2K?” as part of this prompt. Inside Edition’s documentary compiles unique primary sources to tell its story about the Y2K panic, including news reports and interviews from that period.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

As we grow older, most of us will have an epiphany that a belief we’ve held since childhood is not quite right. It could be a misguided idea, a skewed view on reality, or a fact that’s just plain wrong. Have you had any moments like this in your life?

Teaching Suggestion: Shedding old beliefs from childhood is a common experience. Though Westover’s evolution is more extreme, Educated deals with the universal experience of questioning your parents’ beliefs. Westover’s memoir deals with the theme of Leaving Home and Finding One’s Place in the World on multiple levels–on a surface level when she leaves Buck’s Peak, but also on a metaphorical when she becomes ostracized from the “home.” Westover’s growth also touches on The Different Paths to Becoming Educated.

• Psychology Today’s “Don’t Stop Believing: Children’s Belief in Santa Claus” looks at the science of why kids believe in Santa.
• Reader’s Digest’s “19 Lies You Were Told as a Kid–That You Probably Still Believe” is a lighthearted list of common white lies that parents tell their children.