Kids are often some of the mostinteresting futurists . Their ideas about what tomorrow might bring usually include the most optimistic and far - out prediction of the civilization . But they ’re also shaded by the fears and psychoneurosis of their parent . The first grade class of 1988 was no exclusion .
In the 1980s , the New Castle News in Pennsylvania started tracking the kids who would be graduate high shoal in the year 2000 . But what stand out in their predictions — like the unity below from 1988 — is just how banal most of their responses were .
Sure , there ’s the odd driverless car here and there . But for the most part , what come across is that the kid have a rather circumscribed resource . Or perhaps it was just the way that the questions were asked .
One tiddler , when asked what house of the year 2000 will look like , plainly replied that his house will have more spider webs in it … unless his mom cleans . For the most part , the kids do n’t seem particularly prompt or terrorise of the futurity . Above all , there just seems to be a kind of numbness that drips off the page .
On what will materialize in the year 2000 : Things will be dissimilar . Cars will be dissimilar . All you ’ll have to do is say them where you want to go and get going up the railway locomotive and it will take you . Hair’ll be different . The people that are young now , their hair will probably be gray and I do n’t know what color ours will be .
On what houses of the future will attend like : They ’ll build the firm so they have zig zig . Then they ’ll have trees on the exterior of the zig zag so if a wood pussy tries to walk through the family they ca n’t because the ends will be so sharp that they ’ll prick them .
On McDonald ’s and din out in the future : I wo n’t get tired of eat McDonald ’s , cause I love wipe out McDLTs . [ Note : For those too young to think back , theMcDLTwas just a hamburger with lettuce , tomato and mayo . ]
On college : It ’s a office where you go before you go to study and stuff . There ’s like different places you may go . And like , if I wanted to be a doctor I would go to where doctors will teach you .
On whether she wants to go to college and what she ’d like to be when she acquire up : Ca n’t decide . Five affair , physician , teacher … I ca n’t think of any more .
On what will go on in the twelvemonth 2000 : It ’ll be different than in kindergarten . We ’ll have dissimilar desk , different chairs . peradventure even the teacher will be different .
On what mansion of the future will look like : My house will get older and more spider web . . . It ’ll just get more unless my female parent cleans it .
On McDonald ’s and dining out in the future : The reason I wish to eat at McDonald ’s is I love those Chicken McNuggets they have and Gallic fries and peradventure a Coke . Depends on if it is still stick out or not ( whether he ’ll consume there ) .
On college : I make out all about college because my friend is in college . His name is Gary . Well , it ’s a braggy position where they have things you could be and you could be almost anything you want . They have heavy desk and things and sometimes you have to stay there all Nox . Sometimes you have to assist at the college . If you have to persist there , you ’ll get nonsense bed or something you’re able to kip in . And you may do most anything you need .
On whether he wants to go to college and what he ’d like to be when he grows up : Yes . A reliever .
On what will happen in the year 2000 : Shoes might look unlike . They might look like , like cosmetic … garden pink . son will wear blue .
On what houses of the future will look like : The houses might be colored … rainbow colored .
On whether she wants to go to college and what she ’d like to be when she develop up : Yes . A instructor .
On what houses of the future will look like : It ( my house ) will be dissimilar because we ’re going to put in a … my mom and dad said that they might put in a swim kitty .
On McDonald ’s and din out in the future : I think that the foods they have now , I think , they wo n’t do them and ( they ’ll ) get new foods , like Italian .
On college : College is rattling liberal , like 19 swim pool hooked together . Because they can fit like a 100 people in them , they have to be big cause all the people are derive to them . All the teenagers are go to them get they want jobs .
On whether he want to go to college and what he ’d like to be when he grows up : Yes . A doctor , cause I do n’t know any other jobs that have that much money .
There ’s almost something valuable to the simplistic thinking here . For years , acknowledgment of “ the yr 2000 ” elicited splanchnic responses in most citizenry . But by the late eighties , it was fast becoming just another year . For a issue of mass , it was already a punchline .
In fairness to kid like Brad and his banal answers to the questions , they fathom pretty much like how I would ’ve respond when I was his old age . These are just kidskin , after all . And some of the questions were pretty dumb . Why was there a question so specific to the future tense of McDonald ’s ? I ’m not sure . But if you would ’ve take six - twelvemonth - older me I ’m sure I would ’ve responded like Brad . McDonald ’s poulet nuggets ? sign on me up for a bucket of those . Then again , I ’m almost sealed I also would ’ve mentioned a flying automobile or three .
paradigm : From the August 18 , 1988 New Castle News in Pennyslvania
1980s
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