In the year 2019, the world had about 7 billion people in it. That means that every second, 5 people are born. Concurrently, every two seconds two people die. So, if I calculate correctly, we are adding three people to the world every single second. How do we keep up with these demands? What is going to happen to our youth and our future children?
The year is 2064…I am 75 and struggling. I regretfully did not take proper care of my body. I remember when I was in my twenties and able to accomplish any task without hesitation. However, with so many changes in our world and economy I had to rely heavily on physical demands.
I remember when life was simple. There wasn’t a whole lot technology around when I was a child. I remember getting my first cell phone in high school. It was a flip phone with a black and white screen. But now everything has been taken over by technology. I remember when I taught 8th grade social studies with almost 30 kids in my classroom.
We were aware of the change in technology, but we did not expect it to happen overnight. I remember prepping for my 15th year in teaching in August 2034 when our school was suddenly shut down three days prior to school starting. There was a sudden urge to rely heavily on technology and the district could save so much money with other sources. Why pay for all these teachers when you can have a robot teach the students for a tenth of the cost?
We live in a world where new anchors are being replaced by robots, teachers were taught to stay relevant in this ever so fast changing society. We were taught to prepared students for a world that does employ robots by giving the students the skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and problem solving.
I remember my first year of teaching one of my students saying “technology is moving so fast that we can no longer reliably predict the future even a few years ahead.’ And that student was right because only a few years later the entire school system changed. Not only in Alaska, but the entire world. We were one of the last countries to switch over to robotic teachers.
The Kodiak District finally switched to robots because Anchorage district had a very compelling point that teachers were expensive and in increasingly short supply. Robots don’t require pay, health care or retirements. For the most part, robots are reliable.
So in 2034, I started my new career as a back deck warrior on my brothers 58 foot seiner. My brother wasn’t running the boat anymore, as he made enough money to have soeone else captain it. I am 45 and hating every moment of fishing. However, when you are laid off and short on cash, you will do anything for money. This was the start of breaking my body slowly. Teaching was hard, but not as physical as throwing around heavy fishing gear.
I wasn’t the only struggle, I see all of my previous district co-workers stressed like me.