Readers respond to an essay by Tara Westover, the author of “Educated,” about college education and the American dream.
To the Editor:
Re “I Am Not Proof of the American Dream,” by Tara Westover (Opinion guest essay, Sunday Review, Feb. 6):
I grew up poor in New York City and had experiences similar to Ms. Westover’s.
The American dream is unobtainable today for the vast majority of poor students, particularly because of the outrageous cost of obtaining a college, let alone a graduate school, education. This is an American tragedy, a threat to our democracy, yet is a problem that is solvable if as a nation we put our minds to it.
Student debt needs to be eliminated. We as a nation need to rein in the explosion in the costs of higher education, and we need to make it affordable through government subsidy, an expansion of Pell grants or other means not yet identified.
Our democracy is still an experiment that requires constant nurturing by an educated and informed populace. Education has always been, and shall continue to be, a pillar of a successful democracy. That fact ought to be a guiding light in bringing together our otherwise polarized nation because we all shall “win” or “lose” based on whether we successfully address this challenge.
Barry S. Sziklay
West Orange, N.J.
To the Editor:
Through her own tenacity, grit and will, Tara Westover, using a modest government grant to help pay basic expenses and tuition subsidized by the Mormon Church, transformed herself from an unsophisticated, impoverished young girl into a highly skilled, successful and well-educated professional.
But she has become disillusioned with the American dream she personified, and paints a depressingly bleak and disheartening picture of the prospects for a new generation of equally determined young strivers.
Ms. Westover vividly describes how she struggled to achieve her goals. She writes: “But it was possible. Without family money, without cultural advantages, it was a thing that could be done, if only just, if you really wanted it.”
That’s a pretty good definition of the American dream, and it remains a reality for many thousands of motivated offspring of working-class Americans as well as immigrants who came here with next to nothing, and who are equally plucky and determined as the younger Ms. Westover.
The inflated costs (of tuition, housing, etc.) that Ms. Westover justifiably laments may indeed seem impossibly imposing. But lesser costs once seemed so to her. Why underestimate today’s dreamers? They are out there, undeterred.
By all means, let us pursue Ms. Westover’s suggestions: restore funding, reduce inefficiencies and inequalities. But let us promote the hopeful example of her earlier experience rather than the discouraging despair of her current view of the American dream.
Alan M. Schwartz
Teaneck, N.J.
To the Editor:
Tara Westover’s essay notes that her life was transformed by the financial stability provided by a Pell grant she received as a college sophomore.
Ms. Westover applied for that grant because a church leader insisted she do so. It was this person’s intervention, as much as the grant itself, that allowed Ms. Westover to shift her focus from keeping a roof over her head to her academic work. She succeeded because she gained access to both personal and financial resources that enabled her to fully participate in her studies.
Most of us have benefited from a timely offer of help, encouragement or information. The networks that provide such support, at least as much as the resources they mobilize, enable people to succeed. None of us can make it alone.
Ms. Westover’s experiences show how important it is that each of us embrace our opportunities to extend a helping hand.
Deborah Beck
Austin, Texas
The writer is an associate professor of classics at the University of Texas at Austin.
To the Editor:
Tara Westover’s essay resonated deeply with me. I feel like a fraud because people tell me I should be proud of my success, but none of it would have been possible if not for financial aid from the State of Texas and scholarships from private donors that allowed me to have a slightly more normal college experience than the typical kid putting herself through college. I can’t imagine putting time toward extracurriculars or taking only one job during college if not for that.
Even with all that help, I still had to take on student loans, and if not for my major and career choice, I wouldn’t have been able to pay them off so soon. I definitely wouldn’t recommend that most people make the choices I made.
My story, like the author’s, proves what’s so nefarious about the American dream: We’re conditioned to think that if we ask for help we’re a drain on society, thus shaming us into silence and avoiding an honest conversation on the role of government in this crisis.
Dhananjay Khanna
Seattle
To the Editor:
The underlying message in Tara Westover’s fine piece is really about the failures of our financial aid system.
Students are perplexed about how much funding is available. Ms. Westover didn’t know she was eligible for a Pell grant until her sophomore year. Even if she had, though, financial aid can still be inadequate today.
If we are going to provide economic opportunity to all students who manage the inequities of the K-12 education system and are college-ready, the financial aid system needs to be more transparent so that students know what college will really cost them. And it needs to provide sufficient aid so that lower-income students don’t need to work multiple jobs, go into excessive debt, and survive on ramen noodles. Our current system fails on both scores.
Phillip B. Levine
Wellesley, Mass.
The writer is a professor of economics at Wellesley College and the author of the forthcoming book “A Problem of Fit: How the Complexity of College Pricing Hurts Students — and Universities.”
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