One day I was out buying a fishing pole, a reel and 10 lures of the same price, I had to figure if I had enough cash to get them, no machine, I had to calculate it in my head or on paper. I couldn”t!

I had forgotten how to do simple arithmetic. I vowed at that time to only use a calculater to check my arithmetic from then on.

Common sense has helped since then to be a much better busnessman than a calculator an HP12 or the best business software produced so far 9but they sure do help when needed.

The summer of ‘72 I worked for a private contractor building custom houses. The contractor, when interviewing me asked me a number of questions. Questions such as did I know how to read blueprints, had I taken any classes in carpentry, etc. I proudly told him that I could read blueprints since my Dad had taught me how but no I hadn’t taken any classes in carpentry. He looked at me, cocked his head to one side and smiled a face filling smile and with eyes twinkling he said GOOD. Then I can teach you the right way and you’ll learn how to think, not just follow some book learning.

Turns out, that he had employeed others who could tell you what the answer was supposed to be but couldn’t think outside the book and made huge, costly mistakes.

As the years have gone by and I’ve worked elsewhere and employeed others I have found that many (certainly not all) of those that rely on gadgets and such can’t think out of the box their “gadget dependence” / “rule dependence” puts them in.

Certainly these are great tools and speed things up but they don’t always encourage independent thought and analysis.

This is the sort of muzzy-minded thinking that is more dangerous to our children, and our country’s future, than countless hours of unrelenting sunshine.