HEY. WE’RE IN THE BACKSEAT OF OUR FUTURE!
I don’t know if our next generation have the skills and disposition to carry our nation forward. Day-to-day, our view of issues and situations is seemingly myoptic as we now live ‘in the moment.’ instead of using our American heritage and family as references for future planning. There is little rhetoric regarding specific solutions going forward. They seem to be surfing the waves of social media without an anchor.
It is disturbing that perceptions of truth for the most part lack the due diligence expected for an individual personal assessment of any snippet of reality. As critical thinking is suppressed, the type of control manifest in ‘mob psychology’ is possible as well as loss of ethics and morality. Of course, the ‘window’ of thinking needed for real solutions planning is also closed.
My own experience goes back one generation and forward three generations. I can see advances in technology overtaking our ability to understand and adapt as a society. Cultural changes tend to be generational so that where we see our next generation going can be expected to last about twenty years, and changing only slowly.
We can view our ‘almost ready’ next generation just like removing baked goods from an oven…that is, we cannot immediately change them…and at best only slowly. But, beginning with the children, we can change the generation after next. Our education systems should require a conversation with each child…the antithesis of Common Core. And, perhaps the most important trait to be developed is to question everything, and never state an opinion unless it is their own.
It would be helpful to remove some of the situational randomness from the process of growing up. Every person needs a sense of belonging as well as an inspirational goal related to their talents. Of course, traditionally these came from the family and/or local cultures. The closer we can match the goals of a child to their talents early on, the more fruitful their learning experience will be. It is well to observe that the greatest disconnect in relationships lies in the difference between what the do and who they are. I believe that every person eventually morphs into who they are.