Predicting What The Future Of Education Is by Nicholas

Predicting What The Future Of Education Is by Nicholas - May 2020 Scholarship Essay

1970 to 2020. That’s a long time. Enough time for technology, vehicles, and people to change. That’s enough time to change an entire society's view on a certain topic. But is that enough time for an entire education system to change, or does it still need more time? Furthermore, is 50 years enough time for the education system to change by the time 2070 rolls around, or is it going to stay the same? That’s what today’s topic is about, predicting what the future of education is going to be in 50 years time.
In 1970 gas prices were 36 cents a gallon, the Apollo 13 mission was conducted, and the US had just invaded Cambodia. The education system was also getting a bit of an upgrade as well. In 1972, engineer Michael Sokolski introduced the Scan-tron to the education system. This tool was to help teachers and professors when they would grade tests or exams, so they can grade them at a quicker pace. Another invention that was introduced in the ‘70’s was a tool from Texas Instruments called a handheld calculator. This was to help students with even the most challenging of equations, even though teachers and professors alike, weren’t too fond of this invention at the time it came out. And yet, with subtle changes as such, the practice of segregation, the debate with traditional or progressive teaching, and some minorities being accepted into higher forms of education going on, there was still room for lots of improvement.
2020, the year of a global pandemic, online social gatherings, and major shutdowns. At the start of the year, everything looked great, sports were in full swing with lots of spectators, businesses were fully operational, and people were physically attending school with some students around the country getting ready for graduation, for either high school or college. But all of that changed basically overnight. In comes the new form of learning with online classes. Since the start of the global pandemic, schools across the country have now changed from a traditional setting, to a more virtual setting having all of, if not a majority, of classes online. Since the ‘70’s, the creation of Wi-Fi (wireless internet), mobile phones, and video chatting have made it possible for the education system to move forward with the rest of society. For minorities, where before there was a small chance to get into even a local college, are now seen at places like Harvard, MIT, or even Stanford. So with this, it begs the question, where does the education system go from here?
50 years ago, the world was an everlasting place of change, same thing as of today. But where will we go 50 years from now? More importantly, where will the education system go from here in 50 years? Well, at where the world stands as of now, some speculate that a physical classroom is going to become less and less important. With the rise of accessibility to the internet and the average speed rising every year, more and more schools are eventually going to move there, thus abandoning the brick and mortar building entirely. That would also increase the chances of taking the classroom to the actual field of profession, where essentially, you’d be able to take your professor to the mechanic shop you work at, or the hospital, or even to Wall Street to learn about the stocks on the fly. That might also mean that with everything going digital, exams might be phased out of the education system entirely but, students might have to take harder courses as well to combat that.
So with that, 50 years is a long time, everyone can agree with that. But it all depends on what you do in that time that will determine where you go later on in the future. Nobody really knows what the world would look like, let alone what the education system would look like. But one thing is for sure, whether the brick and mortar building still stands in the future or not, everyone needs to learn something, by someone, at some point in their life.