“The most important work you or I will ever do, is within the wall of our own homes.”
Harold B. Lee
It’s been a long, fast road with three kids in three separate schools. And yet, it seems like a short distance between diapers and diplomas. In two months, all three will be in college at far-flung universities, at the same time.
Several months ago, we attended our last Back to School Night, at our daughter Katie’s high school. Mrs. Holmes-Chuba who teaches Art History recognized a parent who had been a former student. I thought the teacher looked younger than me, yet she had been teaching Art History for 35 years. Mrs. Holmes-Chuba also pointed out to the assembled throng of parents that we were all doing the same thing our kids do. Rather than talking with each other, we were on our phones. (I liked her anyway.)
She further explained that for the first time, this semester, she had put out a basket for the kids to drop off their phones as they came into class. At first, they resisted, and she compared the number of phones in the basket to the number of students at the desks. When she announced five phones missing, they were reluctantly turned in. But after a while, students commented to her that they were more relaxed and focused without the distraction. So, I dropped my phone into my wife’s purse, as did she. Mrs. Holmes-Chuba dimmed the lights, turned on the large screen, and we were immersed in the extraordinarily beautiful world of art.
Seeing my name tag, during the video presentation, Mrs. Holmes-Chuba leaned over to me and said, “The phone idea was Katie’s.” And I leaned over to my wife and said, “She learned that from you.” As I marveled at the images of thousands of years of art, I realized, with some pride and satisfaction, that Katie had learned something valuable at home too.
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