Essential Questions

We created tumblon to solve a problem: high quality child development is hard to get, yet pays enormous dividends when put into practice. To find and apply the right information at the right time has had a tremendous time and energy cost (and is least accessible to parents with the lowest educational levels). Tumblon "solves" that problem by providing simple, customized, reliable, actionable child development information to parents - at precisely the time they need it. By technology, we have "solved" the information/time problem.  Information, however, is only part of the problem. Andy Crouch wisely observes:

"The record of technology as science - relieving human beings of specific burdens and diseases - is splendid. The record of technology as a metaphor for being human is disastrous. . . The biggest cultural mistake we can indulge in is to earn for technological 'solutions' to our deepest cultural 'problems.'" (Culture Making)

Technology like tumblon can only be part of the larger solution if there is a human component. Parents must use this tool as a tool to nurture responsible, reciprocal relationships with their children. These are the "dividends" that parent involvement pays: enriched relationship that creates new possibilities for families and communities. It is not ultimately about raising test scores or improving graduation rates (although those will certainly be affected where parents engage and enjoy their children). The dividends will be greatest in meaningful  relationships that form the context for learning, creativity and problem-solving, which is to say in re-establishing a civil society.