“Awww, do I have to go to school??” A refrain repeated in households everywhere. Parents, so numb to the question as to consider it rhetorical, do not bother to answer with their inevitable “Yes.”

But why?

Kids are naturally attracted to the newest, flashiest games, the streaming videos their friends are giggling at, the morning news telling viewers to learn to code for a great job someday interspersed with advertisements for the fastest internet; the best tech-driven healthcare; the greatest possible life available along the single path of technology.

Technology, however, has a foundation. Reading, writing, mathematics, history, culture studies, music, art. Without these, technology loses context (read “value”) and people lose focus.

Children need to learn widely, gain the skills and knowledge that may, one day, underpin truly value-adding technology whether that be really cool games and movies, or apps and artificial intelligence. For this same reason, adults are not exempt from the need for a broad spectrum of knowledge. It is the quality of one’s ideas and their ability to put those ideas into the written word that most heavily influence future success.

Join this mother daughter duo as they dive into why it is important to know more than just technology.