A few days ago Macleans released an article on the working class in Canada focussing on the work of Wolfgang Lehmann, a sociology professor at Western. Lehmann studies the experience of working class students in university and this was the focus of the article. https://www.macleans.ca/society/what-does-it-mean-to-be-working-class-in-canada/ It is a fascinating article and echoed many of the things a friend has said to me about going to university after growing up in a mill town.

In each of the last three summers I’ve read a memoir by someone who grew up poor and disadvantaged and yet achieved stellar educations. Two summers ago it was J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy. Last summer it was Tara Westover’s Educated. Vance’s book details how he grew up in poverty in Ohio but after serving in the marines was able to attend Yale Law school. He describes the obstacles that stood in his way, both in getting to university and to fitting in once he got there. It was a bestseller but was also criticized by some for underplaying the systemic barriers at play for many poor students, particularly those of colour. Westover recounts her childhood in a fundamentalist mormon family where the children didn’t go to school or access medical treatment. But she loved learning and is able through a remarkable effort to teach herself enough to get admitted to BYU. Ultimately she is able to study in Cambridge. This is also a gripping book and became a bestseller. Both writers offer insight into the challenges they faced of not “belonging” at university but also becoming alienated from their own families and communities because they have gone.

After reading a review this winter I picked up another memoir in this vein, Undocumented, by Dan-el Padilla Peralta. Peralta, who now is a classics professor at Princeton, came from the Dominican Republic as a boy with his parents to live in New York. His father returned after the birth of his brother but his mother decided to stay with her two sons although only her youngest had papers once her visa expired. Undocumented is Peralta’s story of growing up in living in constant fear that their lack of papers would be discovered and they would be deported. He loved books and learning and was fortunate to meet people who opened doors for him – a private school education that led to Princeton and then Oxford. Ultimately he was given papers and allowed to return to the US where he did a doctorate at Stanford. In many ways it is an exceptional story and he addresses that clearly in the last chapter. He now advocates for immigration reform and for other undocumented students and he knows his story is not typical. He attributes much of it to luck and refuses to see his own story as a “rags to riches” story of personal accomplishment. The system is broken and has gotten even worse since 2015 when the book was published.

I remember reading John Osborn’s classic account of Harvard law school, Paper Chase, and being inspired to study study study. Peralta’s book inspired in me some of that same love of study and desire to immerse myself in reading. It is difficult to explain to those who see reading as a task or chore how it can be a delight and magical as it clearly is for him. Reading opens up a world to Peralta as they are living in a shelter. It is fascinating to read how he discovers classics and to read his reflections on why it is largely a white discipline.

A big part of what is both painful and engrossing about the book though is his account of what it is like living in multiple worlds and not feeling at home in any. The energy that goes into keeping secret his status is exhausting. And then there is the discussion over what it means to be black on a predominately white campus and whether he has an obligation to speak out about his immigration status. It’s a powerful read.

One last thought: Peralta is very clear that he was fortunate to receive support and love from teachers and others along the way. His story is a great example of how people can make a huge difference in the life of a child by showing up, by challenging them, and by loving them.