Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I a ia e tamariki ana ki te kura Latina i tona kainga, ko Kerner, he iti, he ngoikore hoki, i pangia e te kaha o tona papa, me te whakatoi a ona hoa kura. Heoi, kaore i pakaru tana wairua whakahee, ahakoa i muri i te whakaaetanga a tona papa ki a ia i te tau 1779 ki te Karlsschule rangatira (te whare wananga hoia me te ao whanui) i Stuttgart, i whakaahuatia e tetahi puna hei "te whare wananga rongonui o te duke i hangaia hei whakarato i nga apiha o te kawanatanga pono, te haurua o te kura, te haurua o te whare wananga". Ko etahi atu akonga ko Friedrich Schiller. Ahakoa te whare wānanga hōia, kāore a Kerner i rite ki te mātauranga e hiahiatia ana i a ia. I roto i tētahi kōrero i te rā o te ingoa o te kaiwhakarewa o te whare wānanga, ko te rangatira o Württemberg, ko Duke Karl Eugen, i karanga a Kerner mo te whakatū i tētahi pūnaha manaaki a te kāwanatanga mo te hunga rawakore. I whakarerea e Schiller te whare wananga hei painga mo te mahi whakaari i te tau 1782, engari he akonga tonu a Kerner i te tau 1789. I whakatūria e ia he karapu tōrangapū i roto i te whare wānanga i whakatapua ki te tautoko i te hurihanga French. Ko etahi atu mema ko Christian Heinrich Pfaff, me Joseph Anton Koch. I te 14 o Hōngongoi 1790 i whakahaerehia e rātau he whakanui huna hei tohu i te tau tuatahi o te
Te whakaekenga o te Bastille. Ko enei me nga mahi rite ki a Kerner me ona hoa i whakaoho i te urupare kino i roto i te Württemberg manawanui i waenga i nga taangata me nga manene French rangatira i tangohia e ratou ki o raatau ngakau. Ma te awhina o nga hoa, i whakaputahia e Kerner tetahi tuhinga i mutu ai ana akoranga, i whiwhi ai ia i tana tohu, i te Aranga 1791, hei taote. Na, i te taha o te aroha nui tuatahi o tona ora, ka neke ia ki Strasbourg i raro i te rerenga o te hiahia ki te whakapai ake i tona matauranga hauora i te whare wānanga.