Our Future

I often wonder, as both an educator and a citizen of this country, what is going to happen in the world 20 years from now.  In schools, we spend less time teaching respect and common sense.  We spend less time having students study and learn by rote.  I am not saying that a child should memorize the dates of historical events.  What I think they need to know is how to add numbers, how to count change and the basic principles of math so that they can function in every day society.  How will they know if they have enough money to pay their bills if they cannot add simple numbers?

This is even true about reading.  Students read online with some sort of game attached yet you give them an application or sheet to write on and they can’t even remember to write their name on it.  Even if you just said it five minutes ago, they act like they never heard your words.  I am worried for the state of a world who is more interested in people entering our country than those who live here.  We have seen that those who live here have to pay student loans until they have their own children in college, while politicians want new citizens to get it all for free.

This is affecting all elements of our society.  People are forgetting the simple act of interaction.  We can meet online, order online and, if we wanted to, live very comfortably, not ever leaving our house.  We become enveloped in a world where we like the actions of people we barely know on Facebook and feel satisfied with human relationships.

I don’t know about you but I like speaking to you on the phone, meeting you for dinner and chatting with you at the local supermarket.  I worry as we continue into this “technological society of misfits” that our best friend will be Alexa and Suri and not the people that we started our lives with, went through school with and mostly laughed and cried with during our lives.

Yes, I will be the first to admit that I enjoy Facebook and Instagram and the gratification of ordering on Amazon, but I will always find a need for human contact and love.  I want to continue teaching our children that the world is full of wonderful things to learn and experience, and in order to do so we need to be really in it.  So I hope we all continue to enjoy our tech experiences every day but do not forget kindness, love and friendship which is best felt in person.