Billie Eilish, record-breaking Grammy Award winner was HOMESCHOOLED

Hi Peter,I am admittedly not up on the latest in pop music and never watch the Grammy music awards, but I couldn’t help but be captivated by the success of pop star Billie Eilish. The 18-year-old from California took home five top honors at the 62nd Grammy Awards event last week, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Best New Artist, and Best Pop Vocal Album. Her feat was record-breaking: She was the first musician to win these prestigious prizes since Christopher Cross in 1981, and she is also the youngest person and the first woman ever to win Artist, Song, Album, and Record in the same year.

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Whether or not you like Eilish or pop music or the Grammys, you have to admit that this was an incredible achievement. She has a style that resonates with many young people and an image, curated by Chanel, that has launched her into pop stardom. In fact, she landed on the March cover of Vogue magazine, with a headline that she is reinventing the genre.

I learned last year from Tricia Beck-Peter’s FEE.org article,* that Eilish and her older brother and music collaborator, Finneas, were homeschooled. Beck-Peter writes:

“Billie Eilish has won over millions of teens by daring to be different. She’s an odd kid, the kind who would have been bullied on the playground or whispered about in middle school locker rooms. Maybe if she had endured that, she would have veered. Maybe she would have tried to blend in. But if she had, she wouldn’t be the incredible artist she is today. She’d be another cog in the pop music machine instead of the girl who broke it. Eilish’s music doesn’t fit in a box, perhaps because her parents never asked her to.”

Indeed, Eilish proclaims in her Vogue feature article:* “I’m so glad I didn’t go to school, because if I had, I would never have the life I have now.” Instead, her parents encouraged Eilish’s creativity and originality. In early childhood, she was interested in art, music, and theatre and wrote her first song at age 11. Two years later, she released her song “Ocean Eyes,” on SoundCloud, which was wildly popular and led to her first major record deal a few months later.

It is inspiring to see people reach their full potential and share their incredible gifts with the world. Embracing education models that cultivate creativity rather than crush it would lead to human flourishing on an unimaginable scale. There is so much that young people, and all of us, can achieve when given the freedom to do so.

Until next week,

Kerry McDonald

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