We were given a short story to read this week called “The Fun They Had” by Isaac Asimov. To summarize the story, it takes place in the future, in the year 2155. It details the story of Margie, a student that has a strong distaste for school. But in her defense, who wouldn’t hate school if you had a mechanical teacher???

Margie learns about how schools used to be run by reading a “real” book her brother Tommy found. The book was made of paper and talked about how schools were run centuries ago. Margie was in disbelief and was incredibly curious about how the schools were run in comparison to her school.

We were prompted in class to think about what schools might look like 50-100 years from now and it got me thinking about what PHE will specifically look like. I wonder if there will still be PHE classes? I know that many schools value their STEM courses the most, whereas courses that are considered as electives or non-essential, will be discarded. I wonder if schools, especially the secondary levels and higher, will be moved to online classrooms as the main mode of delivery?

My hope is that things go in the opposite direction. I am hopeful for a greater emphasis on taking courses outside of the core subjects, for a greater student interest and passion for PHE related courses, and for teachers to be leading the charge in developing new generations of students who will continue to better their world.