An earlier version of this story was originally published in The New Edu, the student publication of Kentucky Student Voice.
Missing teeth, poverty, and laziness are harmful stereotypes too often seen as the heart of Kentucky’s Appalachian region. In JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, for example, the people as a whole become narrowed down to a single charity case: Too poor to feed the mouths of their children and incoherent with accents too thick and improper to understand.
These and other stereotypes of what it means to be a “hillbilly,” built outside the mountains, have become deeply sewn into the backpacks of Kentucky students, inaccurately defining them.
The existence of these stereotypes in educational spaces is holding Appalachian students back. Yet they continue to show displays of strength, building a name for themselves even in the face of adversity.
Appalachian students are burdened by systemic issues, including lack of investment. Andrew Crosson, the CEO of Invest Appalachia, wrote in Nonprofit Quarterly a few years ago that “the feeling of being left out, of being abandoned by society as economic powers decide you’re no longer necessary, is palpable in a region that literally sacrificed its people and land to fuel a century of US economic growth.” Thirty-one percent of households with school-aged children in Appalachia lack internet access. Amidst technological disadvantage, sixty-one percent of low-income families own zero books in the home. That shouldn’t be surprising, since the average poverty rate of the area is 16.3%, according to the Appalachian Citizen’s Law Center, as compared to the nation’s average of 14.6%.
That knowledge of what they don’t have can cause internal stereotyping for Appalachian students in Kentucky. Some even view themselves as too smart or successful to be from a home they deem as below them. Insecurities about the wealth divide between urban and rural parts of the state also take a toll.
That complex, combined with hearing stereotypes in popular media, can situate itself into the minds of students. When students hear stereotyping propaganda about their home, they can lose pride in where they come from. Traditions once full of color, soup beans prepared with love, and quilted memories can then shift for young Appalachians to become cooled, gray tones of resentment directed toward their families and homes.
Growing up with these stereotypes all around risks a couple of different outcomes.
Some students of Appalachia find themselves so focused on disproving the helpless, incapable “hillbilly” view that some reject help to a dangerous extent, including when it comes to education. Severe self-dependence can fuel under-education. Only 17% of adults in Kentucky’s Appalachian counties have a bachelor’s degree or higher, as compared to the national rate of 35%.
Some gifted students from “brain drain” areas, who are often pushed to go to college far from home, have internalized the hillbilly stereotype so much that they feel like, if they come back home, they have to change their communities. Those students, said Katherine Ledford, Appalachian Studies professor at Appalachian State University, “often say they either want to leave the mountains forever, or go back and change their communities to ‘fix’ them,” because, “they see their communities/families as stifling and backward.”
The departure of so many students also has a negative effect on those who stay, reinforcing already-internalized stereotypes that anywhere is better than Appalachia, and making those who remain feel left behind and incapable.
But the hillbilly stereotypes aren’t just harmful to how young people are educated because they’ve been internalized. The stereotypes also work against Appalachian students who are at college.
In college, Appalachian students face underestimation from mentors and peers. “I felt like I had to disprove that I wasn’t the negative stereotype of a hillbilly, but just someone who lives and loves Appalachia,” said Lainey Vazquez, student at Berea College from Pikeville, Kentucky. “Academically, I’ve had to deal with teachers making inappropriate comments and the struggle of whether or not to call them out on it.”
In 2023, Jessica D. Boggs published an honors thesis through Eastern Kentucky University that surveyed students from Kentucky’s Appalachian counties on how they viewed their academic experience in regard to stereotypes. Boggs’ research found that “popular culture perpetuates Appalachian stereotypes and reinforces negative assumptions about Appalachians,” and that “academic challenges are common during students’ academic experiences.”
Appalachian students are also often forced to code-switch on campus. A student at Stanford University, Matthew Buckle, wrote that code-switching in professional settings is often a symptom of the battle for credibility among students from the hills, and a threat to authenticity. For example, if an Appalachian student makes a mistake in grammar, it’s assumed they are unprepared, Buckle argues, whereas students from more privileged backgrounds are often given more benefit of the doubt. “This double standard reinforces existing inequalities, making it harder for Appalachian students to feel fully integrated into academic spaces,” wrote Buckle.
Boggs wrote similarly in her honors thesis that “including dialect as a recognized aspect of diversity in the classroom would contribute to a more accepting academic environment.”
Despite these challenges Appalachian students face because of stereotypes, they also have innate strengths, and are making strides in their education.
Though some children of Appalachia may learn without the internet at home, or with the re-labeled notebooks from their older sibling now working in retail, they also learn from first-hand experience. Practiced calculation and distinguished scores in math don’t only come from educational games assigned for children to play at home, but also from counting spare change to buy food for a younger sibling. Reading is less accessible for those without books in their home, but music playing from a neighbor’s porch gathering also teaches language.
High school graduation rates have also been climbing in recent decades. The Appalachian Regional Commission highlights the growing 89.5% of adults over 25 in Appalachia who have earned at least a high school diploma — closing in on the national average of 89.6%.
And Appalachian students on college campuses — including some of the same students who once vowed to never turn back to the mountains — are finding resiliency and support throughout their education from their community. Berea student Vazquez notices how her Appalachian community comforts her even in college because “we recognize the hard parts of it, but we love it nonetheless, and feel a deep connection to wherever we are from.” These students now understand that their rocky upbringing and uphill educational battle has supplied them with the strength to heal not only themselves, but the future, becoming the voices of a fresh America.