The Competence of Children

Here is another example of how homeschooling helps children find work worth doing and lives worth living. This  11-year-old boy, Birke Baehr, has the confidence to stand before a large crowd alone on-stage, address what sounds like a large audience, and deliver a very persuasive argument in favor of using locally-grown food. So as critics decry the lack of social skills and social concern among homeschoolers, despite evidence like this (and I know of at least 30 years of additional evidence, both research-based and anecdotal, that I can add to this), I hope that those interested in what homeschoolers are actually doing in the world are inspired by this. Birke also makes a very strong point early in his talk, about how marketing to kids is so insidious and prevalent; I'm very glad to know that there are children like Birke who, at 11, know when they are being sold a bunch of crap and are willing to say so.