Editorial

School marks preparation for the future

By: Scott Morgan
In 1980, new school buildings were little more than large boxes separated into smaller boxes for classrooms, with little concession to the arts or technology of the time. Before the advent of personal computers (when even calculators were contraband), there simply were no rooms dedicated to housing banks of computers. Only the richest, most visionary districts even dreamt of dedicating a room to media studies; libraries were called libraries, as opposed to media centers; and architectural flair was kept at an almost monastic minimum.
   These days, new schools are gigantic and forward-looking, designed not only to give students plenty of room, but also to be added-to when the inevitable increase in student population leaves no alternative. The main difference these days, though, is what schools offer that is considered necessary to the growth and development of a complete student. Gone are the days when educators assumed there was only one way to be smart — that, by sitting squarely at a desk and memorizing dates and place names.
   Today, children have so many avenues and opportunities to find their paths, it is almost overlooked just how well-prepared districts attempt to make their students for the world at large. Today’s students are learning (and surpassing) things learned by their parents when the latter were five or six grades ahead — and in many cases, excelling in areas not conceived when those same parents were in school.
   With the opening of the new Millstone Middle School comes not only the inherent obligation to the present, but an acknowledgement that there will be a future that will make today’s classrooms seem obsolete. It is imperative, then, that educators use this knowledge to prepare today’s students for the real tomorrow; to instill an understanding of the constant nature of change and the importance of adaptability. It is not enough to simply prepare children for tomorrow, we must prepare them to prepare for tomorrow as well.