In 50 Years: Our Technological Education by Joel

In 50 Years: Our Technological Education by Joel - May 2020 Scholarship Essay

We live in a strange time. With a microscopic terrorist attacking within our nation, our schools have shut down to protect their students. In the wake of this mass closing, a new question has arisen. What will the future of our education look like in 50 years?

With most students working at home, and a minority part switching to homeschooling, online learning has become the new norm of schooling. Beginning in the mid-1990s, online learning slowly crept along, hidden in the shadows of in-person lectures and classes. However, with the new era defined by COVID-19, it has become the king of modern schooling. This new form of internet learning is not something to take lightly, as it may very well become the cornerstone of modern 21st-century learning. As such, the need for more formal classrooms will evaporate. We will be exchanging millions of dollars paid towards classroom teachers teaching multiple, varying lessons of a subject each year, to thousands of dollars paid to virtual teachers creating a singular, standardized class for every child to use, at their own pace. Our society has turned into a tech-savvy giant, with most children knowing how to use a phone by the age of 10. Because of this rapid introduction into the world of technology, our curriculum will begin to focus more on technology, such as coding, computer programming, and other such classes.

Since most children are introduced to technology at such an early age, and seeing how most children have some form of internet connective device in their home, learning will become more accessible to all. From the highest upper-class home to the lowest income families, all will be able to learn easier than what would ever be imagined. Even better is the fact that, since we would be having virtual teacher teaching a singular, standardized class, all would be able to receive the same education, learning it at their speed in their own time.

A major way many colleges will begin to see their education change is in the refocusing of where education takes place, where responsibility lies, and how experience is gained. Education will begin to be much more focused on practices and information more commonly seen in the field of certain expertise. Because of this refocusing, we will begin to see more hands-on learning, where the student takes part in what desired career does, thereby gaining a more useful understanding of how actions and practices are done in the field. As such, responsibility will begin to shift more in the direction of the student, with the demonstration of skills and the completion of tasks being the responsibility of the student. However, more student involvement and the absorption of knowledge will begin to appear, with higher grades and a better understanding of the information being presented showing.

Exams are something most people hate, but not because of the difficulty
of the material or the content of the class. Rather, modern exams are simply the repetition of material learned in class, with no actual knowledge being used in a real-life scenario being questioned. In the future, teachers will begin to understand this and will focus much more on the application of material taught in class, rather than the repetition of the material. Simply put, exams will be overhauled to truly test the knowledge of the students' understanding. This renovation of exams can look something like science classes having student test common experiments, or English classes asking for original pieces of literature.

Sadly, as with every pro, there is a con, and with the standardization of classes, the introduction of technology and the internet into the classroom, and the overhaul of exams, there will be an increased likelihood of cheating. The method of cheating will be much simplified by the creation of websites specifically made to give answers to question in exams and homework, programs specifically made to look like a student is attending a class, and videos explaining the processes of which to cheat. This as already being done today, with websites such as Brainly, Answers.com, and Sparknotes being quite frequently seen used.

While all this being said, the future is never this concrete and can deviate from a predicted outcome like a leaf being tossed about in the wind. Nothing is ever as simple as this. Nevertheless, education is sure to change over the next 50 years. The most likely scenario is that learning will take a more technology-based approach, but in reality, only time will tell.