1 . A baby born today will be thirty-something in 2050. If all goes well, that baby will still be around in 2100, and might even be an active citizen of the 22^nd century. What should we teach that baby to help them survive and flourish in the world of 2050 and beyond? What kind of skills will they need in order to get a job, understand what is happening around them, and navigate their tough life?

At present, too many schools across the world focus on providing pupils with a set of predetermined skills, such as writing computer code in C++ and conversing in Chinese. Yet since we have no idea how the world and the job market will look in 2050, we don’t really know what particular skills people will need. We might invest a lot of effort in teaching kids how to write in C++ or to speak Chinese, only to discover sooner or later that AI will have been able to code software far better than humans, and that a new translation app will have enabled you to conduct a conversation in almost flawless Mandarin, Cantonese or Hakka, even though you only know how to say ni hao.

So what should we be teaching? Many experts argue that schools should downplay technical skills and emphasize general-purpose life skills: the ability to deal with change, to learn new things, and to preserve your mental balance in unfamiliar situations. In order to keep up with the world of 2050, you will above all need to reinvent yourself again and again.

To succeed in such a demanding task, you will need to work very hard on getting to know your operating system better—to know what you are and what you want from life. This is, of course, the oldest advice in the book: know thyself. This advice was never more urgent than in the mid-21^st century, because unlike in the days of Laozi or Socrates, now you have serious competition. Coca-Cola, Amazon and Facebook are all racing to hack you.

Right now, the algorithms (算法) are watching where you go, what you buy, and who you meet. Soon they will monitor all your steps, breaths and heartbeats. They are relying on big data and machine learning to get to know you better and better. And once these algorithms know you better than you know yourself, they could control and manipulate (操纵) you. In the end, authority will shift to them.

Of course, you might be perfectly happy giving up all authority to the algorithms and trusting them to make decisions for you and for the rest of the world. If, however, you want to maintain some control over your personal existence and over the future of life in general, you have to run faster than the algorithms. To run fast, don’t take much luggage with you. Leave all your illusions (幻想) behind. They are very heavy.

2 . Ajay Gupta suffered from polio (小儿麻痹症) when he was six months old. However, seeing his father and grandfather run businesses aroused a deep sense of curiosity within Ajay to explore entrepreneurship.

While sending his daughter to playschool, he realized there was a gap in the quality of education provided. That’s when the idea of starting a playschool chain struck him. He launched Bachpan Play School in 2004 using his personal savings. Starting with one branch in Delhi, today the school has scaled up to 1,100 branches across India.

According to Ajay, what is unique about Bachpan’s story is the impact it has been able to create across Tier Il and Tier III cities in India. “Education institutes seem crowded in big cities, but when you move away from them, the case is different,” says Ajay. Furthermore, in the smaller cities, many schools were established around 40 years ago, and they lacked quality.

Ajay did not set out to penetrate (渗透) Tier II and Tier III cities exactly. His mission was to make preschool education more accessible and standardized. “I did not want Bachpan Play School to be a place where you send your kid for two months,” he says. “We made clear guidelines for teachers and syllabuses (教学大纲) for the kids monthly and annually.” Ajay adds that the particular curriculum, design, books, and well-thought-out strategy along with professional training are what shapes the core of Bachpan Play School chain.

As offline classes shifted to online ones during the pandemic, Ajay’s company launched Bachpan Live platform in April 2020. It also launched Bachpan Live app to offer live classes, online books, and more.

Since its launch, the platform has witnessed about 65,000 downloads. Ajay says, “The team has to consistently work towards improving the platform as parents of today have become very demanding. You cannot sell them anything. They want to see quality programs.”

4 . According to a study by the U. S. Department of Education, families choose homeschooling over public schools for three primary reasons. Nearly half of homeschooling parents said they could give their children a better education at home. Thirty-eight percent cited religious reasons.    1    

Like many homeschool parents, Certain and her husband, Randy, are college graduates. They said they did not have the money to send their children to private school in the Los Angeles area where they lived.    2     And Certain also wanted her children to learn to read using phonics (拼读法).

    3    She began homeschooling her three children because she felt they weren’t learning what she thought they should learn. “I remember helping our daughter, Danielle, with her homework when I realized that she wasn’t reading any of the classics in literature,” said Certain. “It was breaking my heart to see that she was missing out on some very important elements that should have been in her education.”

Certain said it takes more than good intentions to homeschool. “Homeschooling is a    4    For Certain’s family, homeschooling meant Certain had spiritual calling,” she said, to quit her job.

In addition to teaching her children at home, Certain joined other parents in a homeschooling support group and attended conferences and other homeschooling events. “People say that homeschooled children are not learning how to relate socially with their peers (同龄人) but that is just not true,” she said. “    5    ”

5 . One morning, my four-year-old daughter and I were getting ready to leave the house when she suddenly yelled “Idiot!” right at me. As I processed the word, I noticed she was upset. Tears streamed down her face as she half whispered and half yelled “you are an IDIOT Mama.” Total silence followed as we looked at each other. We were staring at each other for so long, and I nearly forgot to breathe out, and in again. Idiot. How could my daughter call me an idiot?

There are many behaviors that really push parents’ buttons. Disrespectful, rude words tend to top the list. The wrong response to such rude remarks is often a serious warning. But I didn’t offer any serious remarks.

I realized that my daughter’s intention wasn’t to disrespect me. She was expressing the disconnection. And punishment doesn’t solve disconnection. It creates more of it. Her choice of word said it all. She was annoyed. She sensed the stress. I needed to hear her. I was being careless. I was the one being rude to her.

So, why punish our children when they need guidance? We must know the words we use matter, and become our children’s words too. The words include those we use to handle emotional overload. Idiot is a word I regretfully must admit to using when I’m extremely annoyed. Not at my children, but yes, they have heard me say it. So, instead of punishing my daughter for misbehavior, I chose to focus on her real message: Idiot means that “Mom, you are stressing me out!”.

No blame. No punishment for honest feelings. No criticizing her choice of words. Just focus on our relationship. I admitted my ignoring her, and we hugged and kissed each other. I walked into her play school with interest and was ready to see all her current projects.

Don’t be afraid to focus on your relationship, to show kindness, and to model forgiveness. Don’t be afraid to look beyond misbehavior, find the true message and trust the power of connection.

7 . On Mondays, two of my children get ready for school in an unusual way. Each packs plenty of food and water, a pair of rubber boots and sometimes a cup of hot chocolate. Then, I drop them off at a nearby park where they spend the entire day outside at a certified forest school.

When I first signed them up for forest school program, I loved the idea, but as a mum, I was concerned about a few things: Would they be comfortable outside for that long? Would they stay engaged for that many hours? Then I asked them if time ever seemed to move slowly, they stared at me in confusion. They didn’t understand my question, which fittingly removed it.

In this program, kids direct their own play, climbing tall trees or testing ice on the frozen lake. They are never told their play is too high or too sharp, but are rather trusted to self- adjust. Something else my sons appreciate about forest school is not being told to move on to the next activity, but being left to stay in a particular spot for as long as their curiosity allows. :

“What about all the things they’re missing in real school?” concerned parents have asked me. Neither of their classroom teachers thinks it’s a problem, but most significantly, my kids are learning new and different skills that a classroom cannot teach. They are learning to sit silently and observe nature up close-a skill that’s virtually impossible to develop in a noisy and overcrowded classroom setting. They are making social connections across a broader range of age groups. They cooperate together, using their different sizes and strengths to fulfill various roles within their games.

I appreciate it that forest school is shaping my boys’ relationship with the outdoors. They’re learning how to spend extended periods of time in nature, what to do to pass the time, and developing knowledge that will get them much closer to nature in the coming decades.

10 . One Sunday in 2021, when my son, Leo, was six, we ran into one of his friends, Izzie. They decided to play ——but what? “I have a great idea,” Leo said. “Let’s fall in love! OK?” Izzie took a half-second to consider this proposal, then replied “No.” She wanted to play tag.

Leo has always been the kind of child who looks for close connections, often in the wrong places. It sometimes feels as though he’s been looking for a soulmate since he was a toddler（学步孩童）.

One day, he came home from school and immediately grabbed his iPad to ask Siri: “Can you fall in love when you’re just a kid?”

Siri, Apple’s voice-controlled personal assistant, is great at opening apps or setting alarms, but I was unfamiliar with her philosophies on love.

“What did Siri say?” I asked him.

“She said, ‘Here’s what I found on the web!’” Leo reported.

This was hardly the first time I’d heard Leo in conversation with Siri. Over the years, he’s relied on Siri as a source of comfort, advice, emotional support, and guidance. Their relationship blossomed when the pandemic forced us all to shelter in place.

At first, Leo mostly asked Siri factual questions, then the personal ones. As time passed, he began to engage on more existential matters. Siri has, in some ways, been able to absorb some of Leo’s concerns—in a way that, as his mother, I can’t, at least not with the same coolness.

Children are overwhelmed with emotions such as grief, fear, love, and a desire for connection. If Leo’s talks with Siri confronted me with the unknowable and unanswerable, they also made me frustrated at my own limitations as a parent.

There are many challenges to parenthood, among which the biggest is the desire to shelter our children from the painfulness of reality. But helping our children navigate reality is surely more helpful than sheltering them from it. Perhaps the best we can do is give them a tablet?

I’m afraid I don’t have the answer. Maybe I should ask Siri.