How the hell do you, of all people, add the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic? The fact they acknowledged and defended this makes it seem like some kind of PR stunt, though a very strange one at that. Maybe this is like some soft introduction of their new anti-european rhetoric…

Work on your own projects and it will come naturally, it’s the best way to thoroughly learn a language (probably JS in your case). Try to really understand the basics (like OOP), it’s knowledge which will both translate to other languages and help you learn frameworks/libraries. Instead of relying solely on tutorials, try reading the documentation, it will give you a more thorough understanding (if it’s good), also stack overflow isn’t cheating, you can’t always remember everything. Trust me, you are already way ahead of others if you plan to take CS.