The Class of 2029…

That’s my grandson’s high school graduating class – 2029.  WOW!  Now I feel old. 

During his recent completion of fourth grade I thought a lot about education; learning; and knowledge.  It’s fun to interact with grade school kids as they are engaged in learning. 

It occured to me that everything I want to learn – my cell phone already knows.  I mean, if you think about what we need to think about in 2021 our little, cellular devices have already put every answer to any question at our fingertips.  WOW!  Now I feel old. 

Today, all we need is electricity; our cell phones will do the rest of the thinking for us.  But what type of “thinking” do these devices do?  Do phones have emotions?  Are Alexa and Siri compassionate?  Do they reinforce our social norms; our values; our manners?  Do people equipped with these devices have the knowledge to even know the difference anymore? 

Ah yes, there’s that word “know”.  I asked my phone - it had the answer - of course: 

verb.  1. Be aware of through observation, inquiry, or information 

OK, seems pretty matter-of-fact.  But how does modern technology impact our ability to know?  Is technology enhancing or diminishing our inquiry?  Our observation?  Or just pounding us with information? Or worse, misinformation?  

I think we know that knowledge has value: 

An investment in knowledge pays the best dividends.  

Benjamin Franklin 

But is knowledge “it”?  Is that all we need to know?  Is that the mission of the class of 2029 – to know they need to gain knowledge?  Or, do they only need to know that they need a cell phone  and their cell phone will “know” everything else? 

I hope there’s more: 

Imagination is stronger than knowledge.  Dreams are more powerful than facts.  Hope always triumphs over experience. 

Robert Fulghum 

Ah Hope…  Thankfully, one of my grandson’s teachers read him excerpts from Robert Fulghum: 

All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten© 

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten.  Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned: 

Share everything.  Play fair.  Don't hit people.  Put things back where you found them.  Clean up your own mess.  Don't take things that aren't yours.  Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.  Wash your hands before you eat.  Flush. 

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.  Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.  Take a nap every afternoon. 

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.  Be aware of wonder.  

Think what a better world it would be if all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap.  Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess. 

And it is still true, no matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together. 

Alexa and Siri; are you old enough to know what our kindergartners and grade schoolers know? 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.