This is the age of technology. So many things we learned to do as youngsters are now obsolete, or performed by machines.

Even more disheartening is the thought that ethics and responsibilities drummed into us by our elders have somehow lost their value. That’s what struck me a few days ago when I was preparing to clean a paintbrush.

Nobody cleans paintbrushes anymore. We just buy a little sponge on a stick and throw it away when we’re done painting. It hurts to admit it, but one of the few skills I was able to master as a youth has been rendered obsolete.

I grew up in the days when failing to clean a paintbrush was a sign of moral decline. We were supposed to put the brush in some paint thinner or gasoline and work on it until it was nearly as good as new. Failure to do so was sure to get one in trouble with the authorities (your parents).

My wife, on the other hand, is younger than I am. She grew up in a time when they put the paintbrush in a can of gasoline and let it sit for a few days. By this time the brush is ruined, so you can throw it away without feeling guilty.

I read about a futurist speaking at a conference on education. He said almost nothing kids are learning today will be of any use 20 years down the road. This caught my attention because it’s exactly what my kids were saying when they were in high school: There’s really no point in learning history or math when you know you’ll never see this stuff again. (They know better now, but youth can fool with one’s mind.)

I suspect the majority of high school students would agree with the futurist. On the other hand, I think test scores would show that most of these kids aren’t learning enough to hurt them in the long run.

I remember 20 years ago, when every convention had a futurist on the program. These fellows said we needed to change our educational system and get rid of the outmoded values taught in the family. The world is changing so fast that what we learn today will be obsolete tomorrow.

They said the future would be controlled by computers. Robots would cook the meals and clean the house. Driving cars would be a useless skill. Cars would drive themselves. All we’d have to do is hop on when one goes by.

Nobody would even consider cleaning a paintbrush, according to the futurists. Robots would paint with a spray gun. Then, we would clean the robot.

Change is inevitable, I guess. We didn’t even have futurists when I was a kid. We had some folks predicting the weather or how long it would be before the world exploded, but no bona fide futurists.
We did have teenagers, though – and as far as I can tell, they’re about the same thing.

Readers with questions or comments for Roger Pond may write to him in care of this publication.