WFS High School Essay Contest

Thinking about the Future

Contest Rules and Guidelines

As you look ahead to the years after high school, one of the biggest challenges is what kind of world will be waiting for you, especially as you enter the workplace or decide what sort of career to pursue. What skills and knowledge are going to be most the valuable to you in a job or career? What areas should you concentrate on in college? What job areas will have the most opportunities in five years? In ten years?

The world around us is becoming an increasingly complex place. One way to make some sense of the dizzying environment we live in is to identify what have been called 'Trends' in the world around us. Another way to say this is to describe how a specific change or set of changes is occurring - how fast, in what direction, and with what consequences. When we talk about consequences, we really mean: What might the world look like as a result of this change?

Of course, no one can really predict the future, but we can think about the likelihood of alternate futures. Also, it is likely that some changes will (such as, the Internet might make it easier to do homework).

What is most interesting about the future is how it might change your own life and the lives of others in your school, family, community or even country.