The nonbelievers continue to express their doubts about how schools will change in the future, in response to "21 Things That Will be Obsolete in 2020."
One reader wrote:
I'm sorry but this could be the 21 dumbest predictions I've ever seen. You really think that in ten years paper will be obsolete, buildings will somehow decrease in size, all students in the country will be taking algebra in middle school, all parents will somehow learn to use technology, curriculum will be entirely revamped, bioscans will take attendance, etc. I actually laughed at this. I think that most of these won't even be true in the next 50 years let alone 10. You probably believe that gasless flying cars will be the norm by 2015 too, huh?
The best response comes from a reader who's already living these predictions: Kris Storrey, from Wiseburn School District in Los Angeles.
Head's up. We are a Los Angeles public low-income school. All our textbooks are online, all our tests are done online, every student has to do multiple PowerPoints a year, our gradebooks are online with parents logging in weekly, our students create yearly portfolios (some of which are digital), every teacher has a website, 90% of all students complete algebra by the end of 8th grade, the combo home-school/independent online K-8 school operates out of an office at the local charter high school, and homework only counts for max 10% of a students grade (some classes, zero). It's already here.
And just to clarify, Storrey adds that approximately 40 percent the students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and students come from surrounding low-income neighborhoods.