Reviewed by Hollie Nielsen, AWCCS
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance chronicles Vance’s childhood in Appalachia and poor Rust Belt Ohio. He wrote the book not because he achieved something very special, but because he achieved something quite ordinary for many of us: he went to college and law school, got a job, married and bought a house. However, in the environment in which J.D. was born, far too many of his childhood friends didn’t achieve these goals; they stayed poor or ended up in jail or addicted to drugs or dead.
In the context of our focus area, Bridging the Gap between secondary education and post-secondary education, J.D. had grandparents who supported him emotionally and financially and gave him the family stability to achieve more than he thought he could; his grandmother, Mamaw, always reminded him of the importance of doing well academically. His mother, despite her struggles with addiction, instilled in him a lifelong love of learning and education. Other family members, including his sister, protected him. Teachers encouraged him. Without this community of support, J.D. feels he may never have made it out of Appalachia.
We can all remember that we might have an important role to play in supporting even one person to obtain an education beyond secondary school.
“Today people look at me, at my job and my Ivy League credentials, and assume that I’m some sort of genius, that only a truly extraordinary person could have made it to where I am today. With all due respect to those people, I think that theory is a load of bullshit.”
― J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
Photo Credit: Hollie Nielsen
