A Computer in My Pocket

My son turned 9 last week. Like all parents, I remember so many things from that day and that summer. Last week I realized he was passing the half-way milestone of being at home each week. Nine years from now, he may be starting his own adventures. Completing high school, looking beyond into a world of what will be for himself. He's my second child, so I have had to come to grips with this idea and this internal conversation before.

One thing I often think about with my youngest child is that he was born just a few days before the first iPhone was released. For the eldest child we had separate music players, computers, video cameras, cameras, and internet search devices. My youngest child has spent his entire life being able to essentially put a computer in his pocket. He has always been able to look up information anywhere, play games anywhere, send notes anywhere. Furthermore, he has spent a majority of his life being able to "ask Siri" most of his questions. Sure often he gets a fractured thought or a repeat the question response, but in his reality, Siri is the being inside his device. Often I wonder what the impact of his life's perspective will be from never living a life without a computer in his pocket. Of always having "Siri" being there.

Frequently, science fiction becomes science fact. Dick Tracy had a watch he could call anyone from. So does my wife. On Star Trek, they would verbally ask "the computer" to show them things and provide ship-wide automation. Alexa, from the Amazon Echo, does that now for many "smart" homes and Siri soon will. I remember days of huge multi-function universal remotes that were hard to program but became one device to rule them all. Now a simple one button remote can do it and soon enough more devices will be like Alexa and be on all of the time. On Knight Rider, KITT frequently served as a personal guide and assistant to Michael Knight on their adventures. How long to we reach that point.

My son turned 9 last week. The iPhone turns 9 this week. In less than a decade, the fabric of how our world connects has changed dramatically. It's very clear that with the work Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple are doing in "machine learning" that we won't be waiting nine more years before we, adults and children, will have our only personal assistants to answer questions, remind us to do things, and connect us with the universe. It will happen. In my work world of education, I wonder if we are ready to adapt to the reality of these children's world not as if it were some distant idea of Isaac Asimov's but the reality of where the world will be by the time they graduate high school. We speak often of the un-Google-able question, but even those decrease in number each day. Perhaps we need to speak of what children can create, innovate, and cultivate with any piece of information being at their finger tips the instant the ask.

There is a great world ahead of us. A place where the human capacity to be creative, connect with others, and develop innovative ideas is possible. Our children will soon live in the world that I used to dream about while watching tv or reading a good book. Can we prepare this generation for life with a computer in their pocket and KITT as their companion?

This generation of elementary students is growing up with always having a computer in their pocket. The next generation may grow up only knowing self-driving cars. And with each innovation, once we let go of our fears we may realize that we are all a little better off.

Virtual Companionship

The End of the Chapter and the Beginning of the Next

During the past 40 hours, I have seen a great many events. I watched 2 graduations; more than 500 students walk past the podium. Each completing a nine year educational adventure. Each stepping forward into a new realm, a new challenge, and a new beginning. I watched a young man stand before a rabbi and choose a new religion after work, contemplation, and deliberation. I saw four young students, each pupils of mine, stand before a congregation and begin the ceremonies of B'nai Mitzvah, signifying a step into young adulthood within our faith. And, I saw a young couple prepare begin the first steps in their journey to become bride and groom.

Life is a book. Its days pages, its months and years chapters. The regularity in which the pages turn is predictable. The chapters create a flow. The contents are unpredictable. For each of the 500 children that walked past the podium. Their book, their chapters, were different. While they had the same start at kindergarten round up and the same end at middle school promotion. The chapters and pages, while predictable in time were each unique, each filled with different twists, turns, and adventures.

As I look at the 4 students preparing for their chance to lead the congregation today, I think of each of them as individuals, as learners, and as people. While close in age, they are not all the same year in school. While each child is smart in their own right, none of them have the same strengths. Some of them thrive sharing in the large group. Some of them most comfortable talking with a close friend. Some are artists, creative in nature. Some athletic, nimble and quick. Some prefer to navigate the lanes of the digital net, aptly moving through the mosaic of code and graphics. Their adventures to here, each challenging with obstacles, trials, and tribulations. With twists and turns that at times made the goal feel impossible to achieve. Each walking before the congregation ready to turn the page to the next chapter and to begin a new adventure.

I look at the young baby girl, standing before the congregation. A toddler discovering the world, embracing it, and openly saying "Hi!" A child for whom the each day the pages provide new obstacles, new discoveries, and new moments. The parents, embracing the moments, loving the discoveries, and subtly waiting for each chapter to pass so that the challenges of this stage and chapter go away and the new ones come forward.

The future bride and groom stood before the congregation with bright smiles beaming. I remember seeing the bride before. Six years earlier, the smile was the same. The hair pulled back in a pony tail. My son grabbing her had, as she, his counselor, walked him to the car. Now a teacher, a bride, a member of the community. In six years, the pages had turned, each chapter filled with ups and downs,  unexpected challenge, and plot twists. There she was, hand in hand with her future life partner ready to begin the next chapter.

Tonight, my son will stand with another student before the congregation and lead us in prayer. Each becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Each turning the page of a book. Ending one chapter and beginning another. Their ceremonies while together in time will be slightly different. Products of their own stories, their own adventures, and their own challenges. Like so many of us. June is a time in which we end one chapter and begin the next. How we choose to begin that chapter is the journey. For the graduates, the young mom and dad, the baby, the bride and groom, and the four b'nai mitzvah students each of you begin these chapters surrounded by family, friends, relatives, and mentors who love you and will support you through your choices on this journey.

King's Cross Station