What Should Our Kids Actually Learn?

My wife and I recently welcomed our first child. We’re probably getting way ahead of ourselves, but in those quiet moments rocking him to sleep at 3 AM, I can’t help feeling deeply uncertain about the future he’s stepping into. It’s exciting but also unsettling.

The traditional career advice—get good grades, choose a stable profession, climb the ladder—feels increasingly disconnected from reality. If we’re honest, none of us truly knows what skills he’ll need twenty years from now. That uncertainty can feel overwhelming, but it also sharpens the urgency of asking what truly matters.

A generation ago, the path was clear. Today, the ladders are splintering, replaced by matrix organizations, AI agents, and global competition. Careers aren’t linear; they’re now composable.

We’re heading toward a society increasingly bifurcated between orchestrators and the orchestrated. Here’s how to ensure our kids end up in the former group.

Skills That Matter Now

Instead of credentials, here’s what I’d bet on:

• Systems Thinking: Seeing the entire board, not just your piece.
• Critical Thinking: The capacity to deeply understand, question assumptions, synthesize information across domains, and generate genuine insight rather than surface-level memorization. In an era of information overload, authentic critical thinking is essential.
• Taste (Deep Appreciation of Technique): “Taste” has become a buzzword lately, and everyone seems to define it differently. I subscribe to an interpretation inspired by Jacques Ellul—taste as a deep appreciation and mastery of technique within a particular domain, whether that’s fashion, art, photography, or writing. True taste emerges not in isolation but from immersing yourself deeply, understanding existing boundaries, and then pushing beyond them. Taste involves discovering and inventing techniques not yet appreciated by the mainstream. In this way, taste is inherently predictive—tastemakers are synonymous with early adopters, those who see the future before anyone else.
• Tool Fluency: Comfortably navigating AI, no-code, APIs, and whatever comes next.
• Communication: Clearly framing ideas and influencing others without formal authority.
• Adaptability: Because tomorrow will not look like today.

Why Systems Thinking Matters More Than Ever

Previously, most people executed defined tasks. Increasingly, humans direct tools, agents, and AI systems. The question shifts from “How do I perform this task?” to “What’s the right goal, and how can I achieve it?”

We’re moving from laborers to orchestrators. That requires knowing what to accomplish, why it matters, and how to structure it—even if you’re not personally executing every step.

Historically, this orchestration role belonged to managers, tasked with coordinating and prioritizing. Recently, a friend, a staff engineer at a major tech company, remarked over coffee, “Without engineering managers, engineers would spin their wheels. They wouldn’t know what to work on.”

That may be true for many, but not the best. Top engineers—and top thinkers—discern what matters, structuring their work independently. This is the new bar: not task-takers, but individuals with vision and clarity.

What Should Our Kids Study in College?

There’s no perfect answer, but we should stop viewing college purely as a direct pipeline to a job. Instead, ask: what kind of thinking does this discipline cultivate?

• Humanities: Teach clarity, structure, persuasive expression—not so you can recite Byron at a meeting, but because analytical rigor, critical thinking, and synthesis across disciplines are multipliers in any career. Humanities cultivate genuine understanding, the ability not just to memorize facts, but to truly critique and innovate. Authentic insight and nuanced reasoning are becoming more valuable in a world drowning in AI-generated content.
• Biology: Often memorization-based, less immediately valuable in an age of instant recall, unless paired with deeper critical inquiry.
• Physics: First-principles reasoning, structural intuition, cause-and-effect—skills applicable across countless domains.

I’m biased, but I still view computer science and economics as a uniquely powerful pairing.

Let’s acknowledge reality: CS majors aren’t having an easy time right now. The job market has tightened; talented engineers struggle, especially if they missed out on target schools or early internships.

Still, the degree isn’t worthless:

• Computer Science teaches how to build and reason through systems—logic, edge cases, implementation details.
• Economics illuminates system behavior—incentives, constraints, unintended consequences.

Together, they provide a complementary toolkit: the depth to build, and the breadth to understand systems at scale.

Will College Still Matter in 2040?

College has historically provided the “Four S’s”:

• Socialization: Learning to navigate relationships, teamwork, and personal growth.
• Specialization: Gaining deep expertise in a field.
• Status Signaling: Credentials matter socially and professionally, even if we question the fairness or efficiency of that system.

Are there other dimensions? Perhaps structure itself—a fourth “S,” helping young adults build discipline and habits. But these core three encapsulate much of college’s historic value.

Yet we can’t ignore valid critiques: spiraling costs, questionable outcomes, and misaligned incentives. Rising tuition doesn’t automatically translate into better opportunities or clearer paths.

Most kids aren’t Steve Jobs or Bill Gates—exceptional autodidacts thriving without formal education. For everyone else, structured learning environments remain crucial. Ideally, we’d teach independent thinking earlier, but scale has proven challenging. College provides a needed structure during critical maturation years.

No One’s Coming to Train You

The Goal Isn’t a Job, It’s Leverage

Tomorrow’s best roles belong to those who create force multipliers—systems, teams, tools, and techniques that scale beyond themselves. Whether you’re a founder, engineer, or policy maker, leverage is the long game.

But let’s also acknowledge reality beyond Silicon Valley’s lens. Many important careers—teachers, healthcare workers, skilled trades—don’t neatly fit the “leverage” mold. They might not promise exponential growth but offer durability, stability, and reliability. I don’t see many of these roles going away entirely, having said that, I think all of them will be empowered by AI and so even they need to adopt new techniques.

What Makes a Job Good (For Now)

• Leverage: Does your work scale beyond your own time? (Engineers, writers, creators.)
• Impact: Does it shape lives, health, or infrastructure? (Doctors, architects, policymakers.)
• Autonomy: Can you control your projects, your time, your collaborators?
• Durability: Will this role still matter in 10–20 years, or can it easily be automated or outsourced?

A good career checks at least two boxes. A great one checks three or more. This isn’t exhaustive—but it’s a useful framework.

Looking Toward 2040

By the 2040s, when my son chooses a major, the world might look radically different. Maybe AI handles most productive labor. Perhaps creativity, emotional resonance, and expression become humanity’s greatest contributions. Maybe we all become artists. Maybe something else entirely.

The future remains uncertain, but preparing our kids with adaptable minds, creative confidence, critical thinking, and systems fluency feels like our best hedge.

These are the tools and lenses I hope to offer my son—if he’ll listen. And if not… maybe he’ll be the first poet in the family.