The Real Future Essay, Research Paper

Melissa Gaddy

History-2nd period

1-31-00

The Real Future

Many people thought that they year 2000 would be like we were living in space. Scientists promised decades ago that we would be vacationing in space, zipping around town with rocket packs and popping meal pills by the year 2000. Well, 2000 is here and everything is pretty much like it was. Although, we are progressing in technology, life still looks more like The Brady Bunch then The Jetsons. Is this promised future every going to begin, and if not what is our real future going to be like?

After reading the Mc Laughlin Group s predictions for the new millenium. I realized many desirable changes that even in this day and time they do not seem very feasible. For example, disks that go into computers are replacing student and teacher textbooks. This new advance in technology is good in some ways, but can also be harmful in ways. Students will be able to learn at their own pace and not the teachers . The students will be one on one with their lessons and will not be interrupted by another student asking questions, so therefor the student will probably learn more. On the other hand this will isolate a student, instead of a student being able to communicate and reason things out with his/her fellow classmates he/she will expected to figure things out on their own.

Philosopher George Santayana s famous quotation is a warning to the world, Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. People need to remember lessons from the twentieth century lest we make the same mistakes again in the new millenium. Some of these lessons people need to remember are things like the Columbine shooting and the Oklahoma bombing. Things like that could have been prevented and can be stopped from happening again. One of the main things that would help to prevent those tragedies from reoccurring is communication. If students would communicate with students, parents would communicate with their children, and co-workers would communicate with co-workers, then almost no one would be singled out. People will also know what is going on inside other peoples heads.

Some people argue that the new century will not be very much like the old one and therefor the lessons of the twentieth century are not relevant to the brand new world to come. On the contrary, I disagree with this statement. I think people should always remember the lessons they have learned in the past so that they do not repeat the same mistakes. Just because the world in advancing in technology does not mean that people will not make the same mistakes again. In order to prevent the mistakes of the twentieth century from reoccurring then people need to remember things like: the heartache and sorrow of Columbine, the tragedy and devastation of the Oklahoma bombing, and the terror that every students feels when a bomb threat is being called into their own highschool.

In earlier times one of the jobs of the schools was to prepare students for what they would encounter after graduation. Now, with so many changes in society, it could be argued that schools are preparing student for an unknown future. My schools vision of the future is not very helpful to the students unless of course the future is going to be filled with sports and other extra-curricular activities. Cooper ISD s main focus in sport, and if we can win state in football. Teachers skip lessons and put off tests in order to work around the athlete s schedules. Don t get me wrong, sometimes it is necessary because it is not fair to the athletes when they are getting home at midnight from a game, and have to study for a test instead of being able to get some rest. There are a few teachers that try to prepare the students for the future, but that doesn t make up of the 95 percent of the teachers whose focus is not on education. I think that the changing society is what is persuading these teachers to focus on sports, if your whole community is focused on it, then of course you probably would be focused on it too.

It has been suggested that the foundations for the future are being laid today. What do present trends in music and video tell people about things to come? What do current political trends tell people about the shape of politics in the future? From what s happening in business, what will tomorrow s work place be like? I think that the present trends in music and video are progressing in the wrong way. Parents allow their young children to listen and watch such vulgar things. Everyone s morals and common since about the music and videos have been lost. Today s political trends are also getting worse. Everyone thinks that the government is just a big joke. Our political leaders are not setting very good examples for the older and younger people of the society. On the other hand business is progressing very well. Today, people s main focus is money, and how they can make more money. Therefor people come up with new business ideas and the business world progresses. Businesses will always progress as long as the people of the United States main focus is on the American dollar.

Day in and day out people have been wondering what the future holds. Are these the things we need to concentrate on? Will the promised future ever begin or will things just be the way they are, with exceptions of a few technology changes year after year? A question no one can answer until it happens