If you have any kind of material legacy, and wondering where is the best place to pass it on, think about this:

There are plenty of donations to civic building projects, but what is really needed for our human survival is highly educated youth. With the explosive breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence (AI), and robots able to do almost any kind of manual labor, the future job market is going to be a whole new ball game.

Our children and our grandchildren will face a profound challenge: How to live meaningful lives in a world where they are no longer the smartest and most capable entities in it. Please look into encouraging and supporting a college education for a young relative(s) or friends(s). The future generations will need, more than ever, to be educated to stay ahead.

Our young people will not be able to depend on the manual labors that so many of the previous generations found to be enough to support a family and remain a part of the middle class. Being the smartest kid on the block, will no longer mean being a “big fish in the pond,” rather, being a “big fish” swimming in a pond full of other “big fishes.” 

In prioritizing academic achievement, the U.S. lags seventh behind South Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Africa.

LARRY ALLEN

Astoria