text: In this time of lightening progress, discipline and patience are long forgotten virtues. Despite the increasing lack of these traits in the youth of today, the world continues to demand them. It's simple economics, the law of supply and demand- all one needs to do is simply increase the supply. A manageable way of doing this is to give students greater opportunity to learn for themselves, which, in essence, is online schooling. Two years ago, entirely unprompted by my formal, in-building schooling, I decided to attempt to teach myself Japanese. Today, I look towards my future, seeing my first Japanese aptitude test successfully completed and an immersion trip to Japan embarked upon. Teaching myself Japanese based off of online resources has not only fueled my love of languages and urged me to begin new language adventures, such as studying Mandarin, Korean, and Ancient Greek, but has also convinced me of my ability to do whatever I have set my mind to in a way nothing else has. I have seen both my mind and confidence expand outward in new ways ever since I began my studies, and that has enriched my life in an incredibly impactful way. Similarly, online schooling and partial self-education could give countless students that same pride in their abilities and dedication to their studies that it gave me. When told that only one place will serve as their primary source of learning and then associating that place with the direct, critical judgment of others on their skills, students, ironically, don't learn much other than to doubt both themselves and the system that supposedly embodies study. If instead those same students were to be given the same information but driven to seek out more knowledge for themselves and schedule their everyday life around learning, life would become an enthralling adventure to prove one's worth to themselves and to investigate and marvel at the expansive body of knowledge surrounding one everywhere.