Asher Sisneros

Specific events in a man’s life often lay the course for his destiny. Frederick Douglas was born a slave but eventually gained his freedom. In his memoir, he credits his insatiable desire for liberty as a product of reading. Douglas argues that if he remained in blissful ignorance, the likelihood of him gaining freedom was dim. Without the ability to read, he wouldn’t have had a deep understanding of what liberty meant. Education—reading—determined Douglas’ fate. There are small things in our lives that have the most considerable impact. Dr. Gary North asked me to find an instance in my life when that was true. That is the topic of this paper. 

I’ve thought about his subject for some time. There are many contenders. For example, my father’s conversion to Christianity has arguably had the most substantial impact on my family. If he hadn’t, my parents wouldn’t have met. Without that event, I wouldn’t exist. But that seems to avoid the question. For one, that didn’t occur during my lifetime. Secondly, that seems like a cheap answer. The number of variables that led to my birth is too numerous to count. Instead, I will write about my mother’s decision to be a homemaker. That goes hand-in-hand with my homeschooling, a war on indoctrination. 

Mom homeschooled me for a few reasons. One, it has allowed me to earn money on the side and study economics after classes. If Mom didn’t homeschool me, I would be a very different person. That is a matter of fact. She stayed home to teach my siblings and me, but it also resulted in a tighter-knit family. If we were as busy as most—bustling around because we’re in sports, as most families are—the family dynamics would be profoundly different. We wouldn’t be as close. That is a fact. However, the other reason was out of detest for the state’s indoctrination. State education is the devil. Have you seen the bums walking out of the schools? By and large, they’re illiterate, morally corrupted, disrespectful, indoctrinated degenerates. There is no other way to look at it. If you gave me a nickel for every bum I saw, I’d probably be a millionaire. My parents decided to withhold me from the public schools. Tell me the difference between a public school and an indoctrination camp. Impossible. They are the same. For decades, the rebuttal against homeschooling was that it didn’t provide a satisfactory education. But I ask the question, what does one lose by abandoning the state’s schooling? With the emergence of the internet, information and education has gone from a state-run monopoly to the hands of the people. What you lose by homeschooling is indoctrination. Screw state indoctrination! As for me and my house, we will have liberation.