How Benjamin Franklin Went From a Primary School Dropout to One of America’s Greatest Writers

When people think of Benjamin Franklin, they think of him as an accomplished writer, politician, diplomat, activist, and inventor. After all, he was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Few know that at age 10, he dropped out of school to help his poor family. Despite his lack of formal education, he knew writing was an important skill to learn. So with no money and no teachers, he taught himself. With a specific system, he rose from a poor dropout to one of America’s greatest writers.

These are the seven drills he used to improve his elegance and clarity in writing:

1. From The Spectator, a magazine, he found a passage to study. For each sentence, he wrote notes to himself about the content.
2. He rewrote the passage from memory, only using his notes.
3. After a few days, he compared his version with The Spectator and corrected any mistakes.
4. He then took the passage and converted it to poetry to understand rhythm and flow.
5. After he had forgotten the passage, he would convert the poem back to prose to reinforce his understanding.
6. He mixed up his notes for each sentence and then tried to reorganize them in the correct order. This drill taught him to structure and organize his ideas.
7. The last drill was repetition. Benjamin Franklin did these exercises at night after work or before work in the morning.

Instead of passively reading, he studied the cadence of great writers to understand what made them great. It is often in the small details that make a difference between good writing and great writing. Breaking down a large topic and assembling those ideas yourself accelerates learning.