No matter what age we may be, we always seem to be thinking about the future. It’s natural to be curious.

We can’t help but to wonder what lies ahead, whether it be about our own personal lives or the world in general. At the moment, we’re simply playing guessing games about how life will really be down the road.

Some of us are more focused on questioning how will play out after high school. But another question that may be on our minds is what will high school be like for students after we’ve come and gone?

Based on the progress we’ve seen in the past, a safe assumption about the future is that there will definitely be technological advances that will be very beneficial to high school students in a decade.

“Ten years from now I think schools will rely mostly on technology. We probably won’t be using pen and paper much,” sophomore Melany Castaneda said.

Even today we are making an effort to move away from endlessly printing paper and lean more towards using our electronic devices to do assignments. Our teachers are looking for ways to incorporate Google Classroom and My Big Campus into their teaching.  Some of the students in elementary and middle school use Chromebooks, and next year’s sophomores will be using them as well.

An issue now is the availability of these electronic devices to students. Some of our classmates have limited opportunities to do these assignments since they don’t have access to the Internet at home. Perhaps in ten years, the issue will be more resolved and students will be completing their assignments all online.

Another hope for high school is that there will be more of a variety in classes for students to take.

“There might be more class choices but they will be very detailed and focused on students education, making sure students really know what they are doing. There might be more classes in the Career Center as well,” sophomore Lucas Hatcher said.

With new jobs being created, it is obvious that classes need to be made to equip students with the skills required for these upcoming careers. We’re taking a step in the right direction by adding new courses to Ben Davis’ schedule, such as the American Sign Language class debuting next school year. The Area 31 Career Center is also great step forwards in preparing students post high school. In ten years, hopefully even more courses will be added to help ready students for careers after graduation.

Although there is a lot of potential for progress in the next ten years, there will be some aspects of high school that will still exist. Being a teenager will never change. All of the typical stereotypes of teenagers in high school- the drama, the procrastinating, the late nights- will be here to stay.

“The problems/concerns/drama never change. Prom dates, pre-cal quizzes, driving tests – it’s all the same,” English teacher Courtney Reece said. “Although I think that today’s youth understand acceptance and advocate for themselves and their peers when they are treated unfairly much more.”

If you ask anyone you know, they’ll definitely say that high school has changed quite a bit from what it was in the past. High school continues to be undergoing changes in the future as well, and we hope that these new developments will help student succeed in their higher education and careers as well.