Coronavirus, Education, And The End of The World: Homeschooling Works

I was homeschooled. It was the best thing that has ever happened for me. Contrary to the line that teachers’ unions and nanny state bureaucrats have been feeding the public for decades, I do not suffer from a lack of social skills or a deficient education. Instead, I do not suffer from the learning gaps created by a progressive education system that places more emphasis on political correctness than it does on actual education.

My father homeschooled me. He whooped my hide more times than I can count. I ate late dinners more times than I can count as he fought my laziness and my obstinacy. He constantly proclaimed, much to my grandfather’s amusement, that, “if it takes 15 kicks in your rear end to make sure you’re properly prepared, I will give you 16 just to make sure.”

Thank God he did! Small businesses employed me as a business consultant before I even graduated college. Academically, I graduated college with the highest honors. I am now on the verge of graduating law school in the top third of my class, and I will also earn an MBA at the same time. I served on my law school’s flagship law journal, and I was the first person from my law school to receive an invitation to serve as an editor for the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. I have since received and accept two invitations to continue as an editor for Harvard. In a few weeks, I will publish a law review article that has established a foothold in the top 30,000 most-read scholarly papers over the past 12 months. Career-wise, I worked for a federal judge, and I now work for one of the best law firms in the country.

In other words, folks, I – the homeschooled kid who was forced to go get his GED like a high school dropout – am no failure. Instead, I am far better for being homeschooled. Unlike many of my peers, I have a decent working knowledge of math and science – the product of more painful hours of whoopings than I care to admit. I am a student of history and philosophy – a lost quality for my generation. Most importantly, I am a student of the human nature because I was taught to understand its weaknesses and to be ever vigilant against it.

Might I have gotten a similar education from a private school? Perhaps, but I am very sure that I would not have gotten them in a public school.

Coronavirus has closed schools across the country, and “the end of the world” seems to be upon us – a proposition I doubt. Many parents are turning to homeschooling to ensure their children continue to receive an education. I applaud those who are doing so. For those folks and for folks who are wondering whether to do so, I encourage you that there is a better and brighter future for your children at the end of it.

I am living proof. If you can instill the great virtue of discipline in your children in homeschooling them, do so. They will thank you for it, and our nation will be eternally grateful.