Introduction
There is no doubt that the Earth’s demographics are undergoing significant dynamic change, and as a result, the number of people of different ethnic backgrounds has only increased over time. Although historically, Black populations have been subjected to specific demands and discriminatory policies against members of these racial minorities, modern society has fundamentally reconsidered such attitudes. This is especially evident in school educational organizations, where, along with the teaching of the fundamentals of scientific disciplines, early education of the basics of morality, respect, and tolerance takes place. In other words, today’s world schools are very different in nature and structure from those that existed even a few decades ago. Developing this trend further and making predictions based on a deep understanding of the dynamics of the school environment, it is possible to create the thesis. Thus, the schools of the future are expected to have highly intensified policies of diversity and inclusion for all minorities and to strengthen computerized learning structures. This research paper analyzes a possible scenario for the institution of schools in the future world.
Racial Inclusion
Based on today’s schools’ trends, it is possible to assume that the diversity of different ethnic and religious groups in future schools is expected to increase markedly, which will naturally lead to a culture of tolerance and social respect. It is worth recalling that the American school system has not always been built on the principles of civil equality of racial groups, and instead has had profound distinctions in the level of freedoms granted. For example, the first school for White children opened as early as the mid-seventeenth century, while it took an additional two centuries for the official opening of a high school for Blacks (“In nation’s first black,” 2013; “Apr 23, 1635 CE,” 2020). Nevertheless, with the opening of racial minority schools, the problem of segregation was not diminished but instead intensified because of differences in educational environments. A legitimate historical response to this problem was the court case Brown v. Board of Education, executed in 1954 (“Brown,” 2020). The result of this trial was a legal balancing of the civil rights of Whites and Blacks.
In this context, it is reasonable to assume that the schools of the future will continue this trend of strengthening the position of ethnic minorities in the educational sphere. According to statistical calculations at the American National Center for Education Statistics, by 2029, there will be a marked increase in the Hispanic and Asian populations and a relatively persistent Black population, and a sharp decline in the White student population, as shown in Figure 1. To put it another way, the racial-ethnic composition of such schools will be altered, which has the potential to bring diversity and multifactorial perspectives to the academic environment. This, in turn, is expected to change the approach to learning, namely, it will set the stage for personalized education.
Personalized Learning
The increasing diversity in educational environments has predictably led to a search for new learning strategies that are customizable and modifiable on a case-by-case basis. These effects, driven by the phenomena of globalization, have created the need to develop highly competitive practices to nurture new talent that performs better among schools (“10 popular educational trends,” 2020). Much of this is made possible through personalization, in which each student receives individualized attention from the teacher, taking into account their personal and professional qualities. In fact, these processes are already underway: it is not surprising that generations of students raised on personalized news, music, or merchandise services expect similar treatment from teachers. In today’s school environment, however, the development of full-fledged personalization for individual students is still unlikely, as class sizes, bullying, including the teacher, and low parental involvement prevent the construction of a work plan for each of them the students (Chen, 2020). In this regard, it is reasonable to assume that future schools will implement personalized learning design programs more deeply.
Based on the principles of progressivism, it is reasonable to expect that in the schools of the coming decades, the teacher will be able to model a flexible learning process that considers the capabilities of the individual student. In particular, the inputs for constructing the curriculum will be both the cultural and ethnic characteristics of the child’s family and the child’s initial disciplinary abilities, possible cognitive pathologies, and own desires. Most likely, combined with the obligatory perenniality core present in any school of the future, the student will be asked to choose a number of units that will be most appropriate to their interests and skills (“4 major educational philosophies,” n.d.). Similar reasoning can be true for the teacher-student relationship: it is possible to assume that teachers of the future will be able to use knowledge of the student’s background in their teaching, thus building a vector of professional development. This may concern both personal relationship issues to the student and the choice of topics for homework and the plan for the whole semester. It is most likely that digital technology will be used to master such a database of students and conduct a proper analysis.
Computerization of Schools
The processes of profound personalization of schooling justified including increased racial diversity, place particular demands on the quality of pedagogical commitment. In particular, teachers must have enormous amounts of time and energy to be able to pay attention to each student during instruction while also developing individualized skill development plans for them. There is no doubt that such work is greatly facilitated when a professional teacher uses computer technology as an organizing tool. Thanks to electronic databases, students’ personal identification cards, and up-to-date statistics on their progress, the teacher not only saves time but also enhances the quality of children’s learning. In other words, computerization allows optimizing the learning process and relieving the teacher of some of their workload.
Nevertheless, the increase in the share of computer technology in school practice has other advantages, which will be an essential factor in choosing this way of development of school institutions. In particular, through the use of intelligent systems, students will have equal access to learning materials regardless of physical and cognitive abilities (Schmidt & Tang, 2020). Admittedly, the trend for today’s educational system is to increase the participation of children with disabilities in the academic environment, although the gap with healthy children is still huge (Orsander, 2020). Through the use of computers, children with visual, hearing, or mobility disabilities will be able to access learning in a most comfortable way. Thus, even compared to existing trends, the schools of the future will be even more integrated into the computer environment through the use of information systems.
Conclusion
To summarize, the school environment is not immutable but rather demonstrates apparent dynamics. Based on current trends, and in the hope of progressive development of society, it is appropriate to suggest a possible school change scenario in the future. In particular, the school institutions of the coming decades are expected to become more ethnically and culturally diverse and computerized, and the learning process itself is expected to become more personalized. From the student’s perspective, this will mean that the school adapts to the interests of the child and offers instruction according to the most appropriate curriculum, while from the teacher’s perspective, it will mean a clear optimization of work combined with increased student involvement. It is, therefore, logical to conclude that the goal of the schools of the future will continue to be the teaching of fundamental foundations, which will, however, be accomplished with other tools.
References
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In nation’s first black public high school, a blueprint for reform. (2013). Code Watch. Web.
4 major educational philosophies [PDF document]. (n.d.). Web.
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10 popular educational trends and what you need to know. (2020). Waterford. Web.
Racial/ethnic enrollment in public schools. (2020). IES. Web.
Schmidt, J. T., & Tang, M. (2020). Digitalization in education: Challenges, trends and transformative potential [PDF document]. Web.