Final Essay: My Plan to Use My Knowledge of Literature Productively — For a Lifetime

I have finished my fourth year of high school in the Ron Paul Curriculum. It was not always easy. The daily grind of getting up and getting things done, without teachers to supervise me or a school bell to ring at the end of each period; personal struggles, and days when I just did not feel like doing anything; hundreds of little competing demands on my time – my family, church events, friends – then coming home and realizing I still had schoolwork to do; moving halfway across the world earlier this year, and consequently having to make up for lost time and cram really hard for AP exams and the SAT – all of these got in the way. Yet it is over, and I realize I have made progress despite myself, and for that I am deeply grateful. The Ron Paul Curriculum, in my opinion, shines particularly in its courses in the liberal arts and the social sciences. In the case of literature, I have read a good deal of literature I might never have touched otherwise, in another curriculum. I have written more essays than I would have thought possible four years ago. I have learned to use tools like Evernote, Scrivener, YouTube, and WordPress to help me in my study of literature (and history). I hope and pray that I will not let this head start in the study of literature go to waste.

I will need to keep my skills sharp. This means I will need to read intelligently and critically, then write about what I read. And I am thankful that I enjoy reading and writing. Recently, I have been realizing just how many good books there are out there that I have not read – I want to read more of C.S. Lewis, and I would be interested to read Augustine’s Confessions. I am also currently enjoying Ray Bradbury’s short stories, and I love his exuberant prose, though I do not fully agree with his worldview. I want to read Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, and might reread the Harry Potter books at some point. (I have had the thought that the Harry Potter series represents a very Western worldview, though without the Christian foundation; meanwhile, I think the Star Wars movies reflect a somewhat Eastern worldview. Perhaps this is worth pursuing.) The Ron Paul Curriculum has talked a lot about a specific philosophy of liberty, and I might go on to read certain key books about this philosophy – The Road to Serfdom, by F.A. Hayek, for example. I certainly want to read more poetry. I could continue, but the list of authors and books worth reading goes on and on. Not only do I want to keep reading, though, I will need to publish essays, thoughts, and reviews on what I read – or even what I watch, for I think movies function as literature. I can use Evernote to take notes on what I read, or Scrivener to organize longer pieces of writing, and keep my skills with both pieces of software sharp. I might revamp this blog, and keep adding to it, or start a new one and publish there. I will have to commit to writing regularly; I think three articles a week is good – as a minimum. I do have thoughts bouncing around in my head at times that I would like to get out, and writing a blog would help me with that, as well as with keeping my reading and writing skills sharp.

Furthermore, a personal ambition of mine is to write fiction. I am thankful that my study of history and literature has helped me not only to read a wide selection of books, but also to write in a more sophisticated way. I hope my essay-writing is good, after writing weekly essays for four years, but I want to branch out and write short stories, poems, and maybe even novels. As I mentioned above, I might start a new blog, and I hope to include some works of fiction there, too.

Finally, I will need to share knowledge about literature through other mediums, not just electronically or through writing. What this means is that I will need to improve my public speaking and learn to communicate effectively. I think a very practical way to do that is to join my local Toastmasters club. It will be a first step, and a very helpful one, I am sure. An added bonus, after having studied literature for four years, is that I will be able to include quotes and stories in speeches, which makes a good impression on an audience. Public speaking, for someone introverted like me, will be more challenging than writing and publishing on a blog. Yet it is a crucial skill, and one that would allow me to take my knowledge of literature and history outside of my “homeschool bubble.”

To sum up, there are a couple of steps I want to take to use my knowledge of literature effectively for the rest of my life. First, I definitely want to read more – in fact, I need to take the rather disorganized sequence of books and authors from above and make it into a systematic reading list. I can maintain my software skills by taking notes on these books electronically. Secondly, I need to make a blog, or improve and keep adding to this one. This would allow me to keep improving my writing and my blogging skills. For this, I would need to a schedule – I could commit to writing a set number of articles, short stories, poems, or novel chapters per week. Finally, I want to improve my public speaking. All of this put together yields a hefty task – literally the task of a lifetime – and I will not be one hundred percent consistent every day. But then, taking on the Ron Paul Curriculum – four years of intense study – was a hefty task (heftier than I realized when I began), and I was absolutely not consistent every day. Yet here I am on the other side, and I count myself blessed to have had this resource for my high school education. I do not want to let it go to waste.