Chapter 10 Reflection

Predict what will have changed about today's schools by the year 2020. This is your opportunity to forecast.

No one can accurately predict the future, unless they have a divine revelation from God himself.  What we can do is watch the trends. So will today’s schools by the year 2020 be any different from those we see in our schools today? Yes, most of today's jobs rely either exclusively, or to a large extent, on information and communication technology of one form or another. This trend is on the increase. Just look at FaceBook and Apple, there innovations are already changing the communication landscape all over the world. It follows that children of the future will need even more computer literacy skills than they have now.

My friend’s nephew, who will be 12 this year, wants to become an interactive games tester - a job that was unheard of when I left school. New electronic media enable new forms of education. As more and more of the work in a society occurs online, it becomes possible to engage more and more learners in "teleapprenticeships." These are formal educational frameworks that engage people in learning through their remote participation in ongoing work settings. I predict the future classroom is going to implement full internet protocol, that is, both client and host will be operating at 100% wherein students can directly communicate with the teachers albeit remotely.

Globalization is also on the increase and business can communicate efficiently and effectively with their partners, suppliers, and customers and manage their supplies, inventories, and distribution network. Local producers can sell their products in distant markets with the same ease and speed as in their home country. Accordingly, I predict that schools of the future will have to teach more about other cultures and show students how they can maximize their skills in other countries. More languages will have to be taught, a drastic move from the usual one foreign language requirement. While this may seem a bit too much, it may simply be a case of mastering yet another Computer Application (App); Google has already put in place on its website a computer App called Google Translate, which can translate most of the world’s major languages with 2 clicks.