Story of Stories

Twenty First Century Digital Boy

By: Mat Life247

 

Ding, ding, ding! Oh, crap. That’s the warning bell, and I haven’t even begun my slideshow on famous French chemists (it’s worth thirty percent of my grade). I leave my energy drink on the table and head to my first period. The automatic doors the school installed last month have been working satisfactory, but my friends discovered how to fool the finger scanner; one of them will put his finger on the scanner, and the rest will walk through without getting scanned. Seems sort of noticeable, don’t you think?

Nevertheless, I will give kudos to the eye-scan lockers. They make getting your belongings a breeze. You just stare into the scanner, and it will unlock. It looks like a camera, unlocks from the middle, and adds another security feature to your locker. But no one ever uses them anyway, except the athletes. People don’t bother to bring their belongings to school. We don’t have any books either, so they’ll probably be uninsalled in a few months, though. The new keycard login system is foolproof, albeit clumsy. It is a card that has access to an encrypted web site with all of your school work, and when you get to class, all you do is swipe it over the scanner, and voila!, your homework is turned in, and your next assignment is mailed to your inbox.

Oh, and by the way, my name’s Jeremy and I am a senior at the first all-digital high school. You wouldn’t expect it to be in Tennessee, but the corrupt Higher Office leader President Carver was born in Tennessee, and he’s somewhat selfish. But I’m not complaining. Carver repealed Former President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” policy, and released a new, digital version, the “Self-Sufficient Student.” That is, in the state of Tennessee. The aforementioned policy states that in the next four years, all high schools in Tennessee had to “upgrade” their routines for the policy’s. That was a thirty billion dollar investment; I can’t say that I was very supportive of him.

My first class is AP English with Mrs. Norris. She’s down this way. As I just recently noticed, we have a six page report due Friday. But since English isn’t my best subject, we’ll just skip ahead to next period. That’d be Mandarin Chinese with Mr. Syothi. That guy’s the best teacher I have this year. Did you know that he fought in the Second Korean War? That’s why he has a limp. In fact, he’s been here longer than the principal. Oh, and I’m learning Mandarin because, as part of Carver’s plan, the list of languages in the curriculum now includes the five most universal languages. He said that America was “wholly illiterate,” and had to be taught about other cultures. Now we learn the basics of one language a year. So far, I’ve learned French, Portuguese, and Spanish. I email my essay on the Chinese New Year to Mr. Syothi, and that’s mainly it.

Ding, ding, ding! During break I add a few slides to my Chemistry project. Not nearly as many as I should add, but enough to pass. Ever since vending machines started overcharging everything, I brought an apple and another energy drink. My friends and I sit on the stairs leading up to the lockers, and watch the cars pass by on the freeway. Every so often there will be a minor accident, but major accidents have all but disappeared; all cars built after 2020 have been equipped with CarCom, which are GPS systems merged with cell phones. All cars in a half-mile radius have knowledge of the other cars’ intentions. There is very little human interaction. Most of the cars on the road around here are two-seaters, and behemoth vans and trucks have died out. The new policy also states that students are required to carpool at least three out of the five days of the school week. The cars are usually recharged in the parking lot, but the school board wants to waste as little electricity as possible on it. Students who drive the School’s Smart Cars even get to recharge for free.

Ding, ding, ding! Oh, back to Algebra 7-8 with Dr. Owens. For some reason he is really eccentric today. He started arguing about the existence of parallel universes lived in reverse. Sometimes he can be really outlandish. No work due, just new work to turn in soon. I sit down in my SmartDesk, which is the best invention they introduced to us. SmartDesks are fairly new, but I don’t know how students managed before them. They are basically mini SmartBoards, designed for the students to use. It consists of a normal desk outfitted with a six inch by six inch OLED (organic light emitting diode) screen, a barebones operating system, a projected keyboard, and a joystick mouse. To power it, the school installed an inductive charger in the floor, and outlets in all of the legs. Also, there is a wifi receiver in the back of all of the chairs to get internet; the school has a wifi transmitter in the front office, and it supplies all of the campus.

Ding, ding, ding! Well, enough of SmartDesks. Next up is World Cultures (another of Carver’s ideas) with Mrs. Graystone. This is the first year that it’s been taught. It’s one of my favorite classes, mostly because she’s a great teacher. She passes out Monday’s test, and I risk a glance at Beka, my (probably ex-) girlfriend. Rear-ending your girlfriend’s car while you try to propose to her is quite a way to break up, but a week ago that’s what I did. And to make matters worse. I failed that test. Okay, failed is an understatement; I’d say I nicked myself a notch on the lower limbs of the grading tree. Oh, and another new addition is a grading scale called the Benhurst Grading Circle. It calculates your grade on four different criteria (originality, thoughtfulness, creativeness, and correctness) instead of just one. I think that it’s much better than the original scale.

Ding, ding, ding! I stop by my locker to grab my lunch, and I notice that everyone is crowing around Mr. James’ room. I guess he finally got his SmartBoard fixed. They’re all watching the trailer for Archangel. Once I get to the cafeteria, I take out my whole grain sandwich and my other energy drink. As you can see, I’m addicted to them. Another thing the added are the Omnilights. Omnilights cover all of the tiles on the ceiling so that wherever someone is, they are under a light. When not in use, they just disappear. I stop by the computer room to try to finish my slideshow. I manage to get three-fourths of it done. I just put Marie Curie’s picture—

Ding, ding, ding! Uhh, I hate the bell. Such awful timing. Well, let’s go to Art with Mr. Harvey. We just finished our segment on Shading, so now we’re learning silhouettes. I have to stand in front of a light as he draws my silhouette. It’s kind of funny, because once he does that, he wants us to draw our faces on them, but in reverse, with our eyes where the back of our heads are. I wonder where he got the idea from. Afterwards we all go over paper about our next project. I try to sneak in another slide at the very end but—

Ding, ding, ding! –the bell beat me to it. It had to come sooner or later: AP Chemistry with Dr. Goldstein. If I could fire someone, it’d be her. Why? Because she always gets my name wrong. It’s Jeremy, not Jerry. Anyway, she collects the slideshows, and “randomly” selects the first presenter. I hear my name, or, at least what she thinks my name is. Slowly I walk up to the SmartBoard, swipe my card over its reader, and tap “FrenchChemists.ssw”. A red box pops up. “File not detected.” Oh, crap. I can hear some of the class snickering. I retry it once, twice, and a third time. She tells me to look at what I’m clicking. Oops. Wrong one. I try clicking on “FinalFrenchChemists.ssw”. Okay, we’re back in business. I put on my best I-know-what-I’m-talking-about face, and prepare for the worst. The first two slides are alright, until—

Ding, ding, ding! Ahh, what a perfect way to end Chemistry. As I grab my water, she tells me I’d better be more prepared tomorrow. After nearly bombing that, I’m sure I will. Thanks for the advice, Doc. I’m walking to my locker when I see Beka standing in front of my locker. She tells me she wants to get back together. I wouldn’t see it any other way. She and I walk of to the parking lot. She asks me why I was going to propose to her. I am just about to tell her when—Ding, ding, ding! Crap, I have detention today. She says she’ll wait for me. As soon as I reach Mrs. Rezzi’s room, I see her climb into Andrew’s car. So much for waiting.