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RE: My Actifit Report Card: December 4 2018
I have some thoughts on this. But I am up way too late (1230am as I write this) so I will try to write more tomorrow. In the meantime (if you still happen to be up and paying attention) here is an excellent video on a similar theme to what you mention:
I’m up too late too;-) I’ll check it out tomorrow. Thanks!
I’m going to have to watch this again later and think about it some more. It paints a pretty bleak picture jobwise. The question is, how will we adapt to changes like these? Will it push us toward a more spiritual existence/higher consciousness (more free time leads to more introspection and self-knowledge), or will the increased freedom and time that may result from this create a huge psychological burden? Not only that, what will we do for money? How will we afford to feed ourselves? What will companies do with their increased profits (from lower labor costs)? Or, will an automated revolution lead to food, housing, and material handouts? Will we find ourselves being given access to equal rations of materials? Very interesting.
And then, how do we prepare our children to live in an increasingly automated world? Can we prepare them for this?
Your guess is as good as mine. The promise of all technology since the industrial revolution has been more free time to follow a more spiritual, a less selfish, a more altruistic existence, as with all these labor saving machines we should all have to work only a few hours a day and otherwise live like rich people. I think we both know how well that promise worked out. Greedy fat cats would rather hijack the entire thing, using new technology to increase profits, but then keeping increased profits to themselves instead of sharing them, and making us work harder than ever. Will this coming revolution be different? It promises the same thing as the previous one. I think we both can follow many logical ends to every idea this presents. It would make a good beer conversation actually.
In terms of how do we prepare our kids, though. I'd say we teach them how to think for themselves. Which is kind of the opposite of the Japanese school system, unfortunately. With wikipedia—all of human knowledge—at our fingertips, and perhaps in the not-so-distant future, a microchip imbedded in our heads, knowledge is meaningless. There goes not only the Japanese educational system, which relies basically on follow the rules and memorize all facts for the tests, but most educational systems around the world.
We can't prepare our kids for this because we really don't know where it will lead. The only thing we can do is teach them how to think for themselves and hope they can figure out the future for themselves.
I want to homeschool my kids, but with my working schedule I can't do it by myself, and my wife is completely against the idea, wanting to do things the typically Japanese way instead. So I find myself in your boat. Next year my son will start elementary school. I figure 1st grade isn't too harmful, but I am watching closely.
I’ve never actually taken the time to look into how homeschooling or unschooling can work, but thinking about it, I can’t imagine how I could ever do it with my current work situation. Plus, my wife would never allow it. Like your wife, probably, she sees the school system here as being vital for teaching children how to get along in Japanese society. Based on why I have seen over the past five years, I have to agree. What worries me, though, is just how much time gets wasted in schools, and how much of a crap shoot your chikdren’s well being becomes. Elementary school seems fun and all, but the wrong teacher can really do a lot of damage to a kid.
My current thoughts are just to be as proactive as I can with my chikdren’s education and free time. That may change though.