By Jay Carroll
Staff Writer 
With time, comes change. That holds true for high schools especially, High school has changed so much over the past 10 years so imagine how much it has changed over 20-30 years.
There is so much change in a lifetime, from the time one is born to the time one is living by them. From 1996, where there were phones that you could not fit into pockets to 2012 where almost everyone in high school has a phone and is using it 24/7.
Technology has not only been used by students for texting and playing games, but for schoolwork as well. It has changed the way students learn.
“Students have so many resources available to them now,” math teacher Ginger Smith said. “We used to only have the library, now students can use the Internet, Google, online blogs, Wikipedia. There is so much they can use.”
School is now shaped around technology – there are SMART Boards in almost every classroom, projectors in every class and multiple sets of laptops for students to access.
While there are multiple benefits that come with technology, the technology also brings many distractions to the classroom.
“The technology is a huge distractions, kids are distraction not paying as much attention anymore, because they are using Twitter, Facebook or texting,” Smith said.
While high school has changed over the years, from the way students and teachers dress to the appearance of the school, what has changed the most over the past 30 years is what is inside of the classrooms.
There are white boards and projectors opposed to chalk boards and overheads like the ones used when current high school students were in elementary or middle school.
“When I was in high school, we just read books and the teachers did a lecture,” biology teacher Sunny Richardson said. “The access to technology has definitely increased, so it is a better learning environment.”
Today’s schools are trying to convert to 21st century learning as much as possible. Students can also see what they are doing in class in the upcoming days or the current day if a student is sick. The big change is in the Home Access Center (HAC) where students can constantly check their grades.
“My high school was not competitive at all,” physics teacher John Robinson said, “We didn’t really worry about our grade point average.”
While high school was not competitive at some point in time, students now check Home Access Center at least once everyday, if not more. Some check for the benefits, but what they do not realize is that HAC also has some backlashes.
“[Home Access Center] lets you balance which classes you need to spend more time on if you have a lower grade in that class,” sophomore Joey Pye said. “However, if you get a grade that you do not like, it will start to stress you out.”
Smart phones now have a reminders section where students can put assignments in their phone and have it remind them to do the assignment. This is a great way for students to keep up with schoolwork and is just one way that technology is changing the high school experience.
“The more you can process the information the better you can leverage with technology,” Robinson said.
