2030 Will Be Here in the Blink of an Eye

My freshman year, 1978, I believe was the first year that computer science was taught in our high school. If not the first, then really close to it.

We used a machine that was the size of a dishwasher and shook back and forth when we fed in the paper tape that had holes in it that showed the program that we had written.

(Mostly, we wrote programs that would allow us to print Snoopy on a poster using typewriter print.

That was actually a skill people developed. But I digress.)

We were a very privileged community to even have a computer and a computer class in our school.

When I went off to college, one of my friends was in the nascent computer science department. He tried to convince me to change my major.

Ah, yup, that did not happen.

In the winter of 1982, I worked at my father’s Wall Street firm for a month and wrote programs for them. They had one computer on our floor that I could only use once the stock market had closed.

Well, I can’t imagine that there is a college, let alone a university, that doesn’t teach computer science.

How has that changed? Well, I can’t imagine that there is a college, let alone a university, that doesn’t teach computer science. Nor do I know of a business that does not use computers in some fashion. It was deemed to be important for our future, and computer science was implemented all over.

We watched it happen. It was made a priority.

What if we took the same stand about ending violence? What if we all agreed that it was time to make violence prevention education a priority?

What if we took the same stand about ending violence? What if we all agreed that it was time to make violence prevention education a priority?

Well, just like any other topic we find important, including STEM, we got more violence prevention education into the school systems. And we taught it to those who without the opportunity to learn it in school.

And what if we made sure that training programs in workplaces also address the topic, and not just as a checkmark on the list of things we are “supposed” to do, but in a way that is profoundly clear to anyone working in that company that violence, harassment, and abusive behavior is not tolerated.

By anyone, towards anyone. Ever.

Oh, and BTW, violence prevention has made it to the top of the agenda. At least violence against women and girls.

But unless we are all working together to make sure that this is happening in our communities, our schools, our businesses, 2030 will be here in a blink of an eye and we will not see the change we want.

But unless we are all working together to make sure that this is happening in our communities, our schools, our businesses, 2030 will be here in a blink of an eye and we will not see the change we want.

The time to act is now.

Join me.