by Melanie Hicks

Created on: April 13, 2009

Like everything in our society, school supplies are evolving in an attempt to keep up with the technology in our schools. All you used to need for school was notebooks, pens, pencils, and rulers. Soon you needed calculators (which used to just be able to add and subtract) that plot points on a graph for you and could quickly compute any algebra or calculus problem under the sun. Different colored pens, pencils, and folders were required for different classes and even different types of paper (college ruled and wide ruled) were required for each assignment. Soon school supply lists were taken over by highlighters, binders, crayons, glue sticks, washable markers and crayons, staplers, White-Out, planners, etc. Heck, even pencils have changed. No longer is a complete set of #2's students are finding themselves needing mechanical pencils and refill leads for those pencils. One thing is for sure, our schools are not the same as they once were.

School supplies have had to evolve because the technology in the classrooms have evolved. I remember having to sit in a classroom with a bunch of desks and a chalkboard (and the teacher of course), now you walk into virtually any classroom in any school across America and you will find marker boards and teachers with headsets and in some you will find, not desks, but computer stations in regular classrooms. I remember when going over math problems in class, the teacher would pull out this big bulky projector that would display example problems overhead. Those projectors (which were loud, cumbersome, and and to be adjusted by hand) have now been replaced by a projector that can be hung from the ceiling and projects a crystal clear picture on the wall. I even remember seeing a laser disk or two!

With the way technology in our schools is advancing it won't be long before kids are required to bring ink cartridges and printer paper on the first day of school, or maybe even be required to provide their own laptops or PCs. Who can tell what the future will bring to today's school age youth. There will be no more beating the chalk erasers after school because you launched a spit wad into the teacher's hair. No more passing notes back and forth between desks (that is surely being replaced by texting). Yes keeping up with today's technology is a must and everyone must learn these advancements (the younger the better) but I can't help but think back and remember the good ole days. Goodbye yesterday and hello tomorrow.

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