Children are our greatest gifts and our greatest responsibilities. We are accountable for who and what they grow to be – physically, socio-emotionally, and intellectually.
Children grow in our families and communities and reflect various effects of well-researched nature and nurture child development theories. It is the nurturing that concerns me. How are we shaping their abilities to think? Yep, to think. Descartes’s premise “I think, therefore I am” is extremely true of 21st century children. As they develop their capacity to think for themselves, they become the person they will be for their lifetime.
My concern is their capacity to understand and evaluate and draw conclusions about what is happening in their 21st century. Concisely, how are they informed and how do they process information. I am not worried about their conclusions – each generation shapes its own world view and works to find its way forward. And I am not into restricting their thinking. Autocrats try to restrict how the public thinks, not educators.
How are they different?
Our grandchildren, eight young adults, are both treasured and bewildering. The treasured part comes naturally with our unconditional love from their birth. The bewildering part derives from four who are demonstrably inquisitive and engaging with their world and four who are self-absorbed and oblivious to happenings outside their social and online world. As I observe hundreds of young people I worked with in our local schools, I see this schism writ large. The trait of self-absorption prevents some youth from any outward concern for their fellow man. And self-absorption is exacerbated by their ubiquitous use of narrowed social media.
I start with the inquisitive. These four grandchildren read books, pay attention to multiple media outlets, and seek information about global, national, state, and community affairs. The critical attribute to me is that they read. Every person with smart devices today receives flashes of news on their devices. The inquisitive dig deeper to read online to understand why something happened and its significance. They also compare what differing reporters say about events and issues. They are learning to cull the relevant from the irrelevant, evaluate and weigh the evidence of perspectives, and establish their own informed point of view.
Back to that word, “read.” As often as they read from blurbs from their screens, they also read printed texts. Our inquisitive grands always have a book at hand, some in print and some e-books. They are comfortable with the odd moments that occur in their day and turn to their habit of reading. They surprise and impress me with the variety of their titles and authors. More to the point, they delight me with their conversation and comfort in speaking about what they read. They are constantly growing their world by using the stories they read to examine themselves and their world. They compare and contrast themselves to the characters in books, the worlds authors create, and the scenarios of human interactions they read. Readers look outward to consider their inward selves.
The reading inquisitive knows that the proverbial butterfly in Asia affects life in Wisconsin. National and world events that seem so distant from the comforts of town and neighborhood create ripples of effect that permeate everywhere. Inquisitiveness opens a sensitivity to these phenomena that removes their surprise at unintended or expected consequences.
Alas, the non-inquisitive seem to have eyes only for mirrors. Their world is their circle of friends and their friends live online. Without comparatives, their self-worth is only what their circle tells them it is. Their worldview is non-existent.
Their understanding of significant events is limited to what confronts them. In a moment of panic, they will look up from their ongoing conversation with an AI avatar when they want to purchase their favorite strawberry matcha latte. Bewildered when told that the Haitian barista at their favorite coffee shop was deported by ICE after a Supreme Court decision vacated temporary protective status for endangered people. “What will I do now?” is all they can ask.
The Big Duh!
When our youth stop thinking, they cease to be and the future is endangered.