A Better Future by LuAnn

A Better Future by LuAnn - May 2020 Scholarship Essay

From a young age, I’ve always wanted to become a teacher but I was constantly discouraged by my parents to not choose that path. Their claim was, you won’t get paid enough. Technology will become advanced. Robots will replace teachers. And for a long moment, I believed them. But that didn’t stop me, I still had the passion and desire to teach not knowing what the future of education holds. As I look back at my 13 years of my education, technology has advanced. We went from a chalkboard to a whiteboard, to an overhead projector to a Promethean board. Chromebooks replaced the computer labs. Textbooks became online books. Math classes even became online through websites like ALEX. So when it came to the thought of robots replacing teachers, it was no surprise.
But in 2020, the unexpected appearance of Covid-19 occurred and everything changed. The virus impacted several lives, especially the lives of students. The traditional learning which consists of a teacher or professor talking to students in a classroom quickly switched to “E-Learning”, otherwise known as electronic learning. Online quizzes, tests, and even virtual meetings were held. We were now learning through a computer screen. Our classrooms turned into our rooms and our desks turned into our beds. Through the multiple weeks of E-Learning, several students, teachers, and administrators found the value of traditional school learning. Many students, including myself, realized in-person learning is much more valuable and different than learning through a computer screen. There are so many interruptions when it comes to E-Learning, from technical difficulties to a loud distracting environment. There’s also an abundance amount of extra stress added to students with teachers over assigning work. With this in mind, I’m most certain of what education will look like in 50 years.
For starters, there will be a classroom with a teacher or professor. However, we won’t see the classic notebooks and pencils in the future. Those materials consume too many trees and can be quite harmful to the environment. Instead, there would be electronic tablets to take notes. Additionally, Prometheans would be far more advanced, perhaps the board will cover all four walls of the classroom. The seating of students will be far more comfortable, with sliding chairs or chairs that will help retain focus. Additionally, the desk a student uses will be advanced through technology. I envision a desk that has the capability to allow a student to write on, or even take notes and send it straight to your tablet.
But those are all advanced through technology and it’s not a shocker. What will be a shocker is a drastic change the education system will have. The education system will be tremendously improved. The future will now discuss all nations, ethnicity, and true history of how each country was formed. Discussions of all lives matter because yes, all lives matter. There will be lessons taught on how to write a check, how to save, and how to properly spend. The education system will better prepare students for the future of their choice. Math will be much more than learning formulas we’ll never use in real life, but math that actually applies to the real world. History will be taught with real facts, and real stories, not fake stories. The education system will be successful, education will be fixed. How do I know? Because I will be in that education system, and I will be teaching that. So when I get asked what education will look like in 50 years, I envision a more technology advanced classroom and an education system that better prepares the students of the future.