Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Is teaching your teenage son making your hair turn gray? Hear one parent's solution as Chairman Michael Farris talks with a Patrick Henry College student on this edition of Home School Heartbeat.

Mike Farris:


I'm talking today with Patrick Henry College junior, Joel Moughon. Joel, welcome to the program.


Joel:


I'm glad to be here.


Mike Farris:


Joel, what do you think your mom would say was the hardest thing about teaching you as a teenager?


Joel:


That's very simple. She'd say motivation. I hated school.


Mike Farris:


Well, there are 50,000 moms who just perked up their ears, because they thought, "Boy, that's exactly how my son is like, my 13, 14, 15-year-old son." How did you get through those years, and what did your mom do?


Joel:


The biggest thing my parents did to motivate me in high school was to get me involved in debate. As I was beginning high school, my parents introduced me to the concept of debate and actually forced me to participate. And I was not at all interested in public speaking, definitely not interested in researching the topic for a year. It was a topic on foreign military intervention of which I had no interest in whatsoever. But after having done debate for three years in high school and then, following that, three years in college, I have to say that I thank my parents so much. I've made more friends through debate. I think I've learned more academically through debate. I've been forced to research a number of different policy topics. I've learned how to speak in public in a way I was never able to before. And I just am so thankful for that opportunity. And it really motivated me in a way that nothing else they tried ever did.