The Day I Stopped Obsessing Over High School Graduation: Realizing That in the Age of AI, Children Need 'Experience' More Than 'Qualifications'

"You must at least graduate from high school. That, at the very least, is non-negotiable."
That is what I thought a year ago.
I thought it was normal, a parent's duty...

What I suddenly realized while researching correspondence high schools

While thinking about studying abroad while attending a Japanese correspondence high school,
and looking into various things, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

Can't school studies be done at any time?

Correspondence courses can be taken at your own pace. There are support schools. There is also the path of the High School Equivalency Examination. If you want to, you can relearn even in your 20s or 30s.

When I realized that, my obsession with a "high school qualification" quietly faded away.

The definition of "human value" changed by AI

Around that time, the evolution of AI tools was accelerating.

With ChatGPT becoming a hot topic, and seeing image generation AI, video generation AI, coding AI... appearing one after another, I became strongly aware of one thing.

The value of "possessing knowledge" is rapidly declining.

Memorized knowledge, processing according to manuals, repeating fixed procedures.
That is what AI excels at.

The experienceof failing, feeling frustrated, and yet getting back up. The experience and communication skillsof somehow connecting with someone in a different culture where you don't even speak the same language. The
memoryof thinking with your own head and acting on your own judgment.

I began to think that such a "compilation of lived experiences" is what will truly become human value in the coming era.

Human value...

What I wanted to give my son

That is why I decided to let my son go to Germany.

Not for a high school diploma, not for test scores, but for the certain memory of 'I did my best in that place at that time'.

The experience of building relationships from scratch in a place with a different language and culture. The habit of thinking and improvising for oneself amidst inconvenience. The sense that what is "normal" in Japan is not at all normal in the rest of the world.

I believed that this would be more deeply engraved in my son than any certificate.

The fear of stepping off the "correct track" and what lies beyond

Of course, it's not that I don't care what others think.
To be honest, the anxiety of being thought of as 'someone who didn't even finish high school' is still not zero.

But,the 'standard path' in society is something someone else created. There are more and more things that our parents' generation took for granted that no longer apply in today's world.

Over the next 20 or 30 years, the world will change even more drastically. It is my son himself who will have to survive in that world.

If that is the case, what a parent can do isnot to force a predetermined answer on him, but to raise him into a person who can think and act for himself by doing what he wants to do.

Conclusion

The day I stopped obsessing over a high school diploma, I felt a little more at ease.

Because I realized that believing in my son's potential and making him conform to society's 'common sense' are two different things.

In this era where AI is evolving, I now believe that the best things we parents can give our children are 'experience' and 'the power to believe in oneself'.

My son's study abroad in Germany has only just begun.
I intend to continue writing about my feelings here.