Kammala jumla mai zuwa: A matsayin ɗan makaranta da ke halartar makarantar Latin (makarantar gargajiya / na nahawu) &lt;/a&gt; a garinsu Kerner, wanda ya kasance karami da rauni, ya sha wahala duka daga tsananin mahaifinsa da kuma zalunci daga abokan makaranta. Ruhunsa na adawa bai karye ba, duk da haka, ko da bayan da mahaifinsa ya sa aka karɓe shi a shekara ta 1779 zuwa makarantar Karlsschule (makaranta ta soja da na kowa) a Stuttgart, wanda wata majiya ta kwatanta a matsayin "majalisa mai daraja ta duke da aka yi niyyar ba da ma'aikatan gwamnati masu aminci, rabin makarantar kwana, rabin jami'a". Sauran ɗalibai sun haɗa da Friedrich Schiller. Duk da makarantar soja, Kerner bai taɓa bin abin da ake tsammani daga gare shi ba. A cikin jawabin da aka yi a ranar haihuwar wanda ya kafa makarantar, tsohon shugaban Württemberg, Duke Karl Eugen, Kerner ya yi kira da a kafa tsarin kula da jin dadin jama'a ga talakawa. Schiller ya bar jami'ar don neman aiki a wasan kwaikwayo a 1782, amma Kerner har yanzu dalibi ne a 1789. Ya kafa kulob din siyasa a cikin kwalejin da aka sadaukar don tallafawa juyin juya halin Faransa. Sauran membobin sun hada da Christian Heinrich Pfaff, da Joseph Anton Koch. A ranar 14 ga Yuli, 1790, sun gudanar da wani biki na asiri don nuna ranar farko ta
Fuskantar Bastille. Wadannan da makamantan ayyukan da Kerner da abokansa suka yi sun haifar da mummunar tasiri a cikin masu ra'ayin mazan jiya na Württemberg tsakanin 'yan ƙasa da kuma baƙi na Faransa waɗanda suka karɓa a cikin zukatansu. Tare da taimakon abokai Kerner ya samar da takaddama wanda ya kammala karatunsa kuma ya sami cancantarsa, a Easter 1791, a matsayin likita. Yanzu, tare da ƙaunatacciyar ƙaunatacciyar rayuwarsa, ya koma Strasbourg a ƙarƙashin hujja na son inganta ilimin likitancinsa a jami'a.