“Mom, can you help me with my homework? I don’t understand this question.”

Guess what?

Me either.

How many times have I had to apply the quadratic equation in my corporate career?

None.

Identify direct or indirect characterization?

Also none.

Know the different shapes of a galaxy?

Never.

There is a lot of stuff they teach in school that I have never once needed in the real world.

But maybe that’s not really the point.

I remember my son watching a video about tectonic plates in second grade. I had apparently forgotten how fascinating that stuff was, because I was captivated.

A few years later, he and I were swimming between tectonic plates in Iceland.

Suddenly, that second-grade science lesson felt pretty damn useful.

Maybe we just don’t know which things will matter later.

Because school isn’t only teaching our kids what to know. It’s teaching them how to learn things they don’t know.

How to work through something that’s difficult.

How to ask for help.

How to figure out a problem when the answer isn’t obvious.

How to keep going when they don’t immediately get it.

My kids aren’t allowed to use AI for their schoolwork.

Me? The school policy doesn’t say I can’t take a picture of the homework and ask Copilot if I’m explaining it correctly.

Because apparently, I’m still learning too.

I just have a mortgage now.