My kids are going to enter the workforce in about 15-20 years, we can only imagine what the world will look like after AI has had 20 years to improve. They could become doctors, plumbers, or some other form of work that would be unlikely to be displaced by AI, but I want to start giving them a wide array of skills now so that they’ll be able to have a wide array of choices available to them.

Education starts and finishes at home

I don’t send my kids off to school and put a checkbox next to “education”. With the notable exception of preparing them to be around other humans, I’m assuming that whatever they learn at school, won’t prepare them for the workforce of the future. It’s not a dig at education systems, it’s that this thing is going to move SO MUCH FASTER than anyone really understands, and the education system is not geared for such rapid shifts - it has to be managed at home by involved parents.

Teach them HOW to think

Whenever I hear “Daddy, why does xyz happen”, I generally answer with “Why do ***you*** think xyz happens?”. Trying to think through one's own problems helps to train creative thinking, highlighting that their confusions lie within their locus of control. If they can’t figure out how to figure something out, then I would have failed them.

A guiding principle I’m abiding by can be summed up by one of my favorite quotes:

“The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

- Alvin Toffler