WHAT DO YOU THINK LIFE WOULD BE LIKE IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

These essays were written by third-graders in the spring of '99.

May Greene

Derrick Williams

Today I am going to talk about jewelry. There are many jewelries. There are gold rings, silver rings and many other rings. Rings are not that much important to other people. Gold is very important to other people because it costs $100 or maybe more money than that.

Amia Warren

I wonder how cars will look like because we probably will have flying cars. If I was in a flying car, it would be like riding in an airplane. And then we will be living up in the sky than living down on the ground. If we have flying cars that means you will not have to ride on wheels anymore. And later on in the year our flag might have more stars. And they might change the flag around too.

Duran Nunley

Sports are a good thing do. You can go to the NBA if you play good.

Ashley King

I think the cars are different and the millennium, you can plug it up.

Nacole Sedlock

When the 21st century comes it will be very different. The people will be robots and dogs will be people. Crows will be animals and animals will be crows. Phones will be clocks and clocks will be phones. Phonebooks will be fans and fans will be phonebooks. Flags will be people and people will be flags.

Trinity Lutheran School

Madison

Cars will be like airplanes, more computers will be used (but computers will be the same and will work). People will not have to work. More people will be rich. Pencils will do your work when you tell them what to write. A machine will clean your whole house spic and span. A strong wall that will come up when hurricanes come. More trees will be cut down for space (I would hate for that to happen)! People can fly. More people will start saving trees and wildlife. People can catch robbers much, much, much better. People will be nicer to each other and care for each other better. People will lead happy lives compared to today.

Sunni Campbell

I think the 21st century will have new clothes styles, new hairstyles, new cars, new schools, and new games. I also think the 21st century will be the best century, will be the best century ever. I think people will change. And I think they will come up with new inventions. I will love the 21st century.

Josephine Clay

It will be like you would not have to buy food, you could just take it home and bring the wrapper back. So there would not be a trash problem.

Catherine

I think in the 21st century the soil will be very good and there will be a robot for the teachers and a robot for the principals and the children will have computers to do their work for them. I think that if you press a button and your light switches will turn on. And there will be another Titanic but smaller. There will be no storms.

Jessica Reagin

The 21st century would be like cars, trucks, vans would be with no gas, but they would be automatic. New kinds of pizza like pickle pizza. Time machines, Titanic 2, 12 months, 13 hours, no more whale killing for oil.

Heather Sexton

There will be flying cars, flying shoes, people will turn into aliens, no school, metal clothes, there will be a planet made of a candy bar, and pizza, flying frogs, flying rabbits, people would not die, flying cows, flying horses, flying trees.

Audrey

I think there will be new cars, new styles of clothes, new games, new styles of hair, new schools, new churches, new styles of dancing and I think there will be new kinds of boats.

Joseph

There will be flying cars, and a circus in the moon. There will be aliens, metal clothes, giant bugs, no school. There will be Power Rangers. We will have magic powers, robot people, flying frogs, we can't die, Nintendo.

Keara Pringle

I think in the 21st century we will have hover cars, faster than light rocket ships. We will be able to make a seed grow to a plant in a second. We will have light sabers. We will be able to transport ourselves from one place to another by just pressing a button. Jesus will come again.

Deanna Dippold

I think more cars will be invented. Schools will be more fun. Things will be cheaper. There will be more electric things. Better medicine will be invented. More sports will be invented. People might go to more planets. There will be fancier clothes. More people will find jewels. Bigger boats will be made.

Allison Bostic

I think there will be hover cars and hover boards, people living on the moon, people to never fight or have disagreements with other states, that there will be no taxes or have to pay money to the government.

Ethan Deuster

I, for one thing, there will be big hover cars and a big, big metal circle ball type thing that will come to your house every day to pick up your trash and dump it on the moon. And kids will be programmed to know everything. Shots will be illegal. People won't have to work, robots will. Everybody will have a money making machine. U.S.A. will own the world!!

Dani

We will have more cars. We will have more wrecks if people won't drive well. People will hurt too. It will be cool. Jesus will maybe come back. We will all be happy. We will go up to heaven. We will have more. There will be more people in the world.

Ryan Winkler

I think the 21st century will have hover crafts and houses that float and pools that have elevators. The aliens will visit us. We will have dehydrated food. Plants will grow automatically. We'll have baseball bats that if you tap the ball it will go all the way to Pluto. We'll be able to change into any animal.

Amanda Bostic

Flying cars, a fast food restaurant call Mice Mouse. A cartoon called Jesus love me. The world will not be round. We will be in school for two weeks. There will be someone who will have 200 babies.

Austin Kwikkel

I think that cars will be hovering, and we'll live on all nine planets. We will go to all galaxies. The war in Kosovo will still be going on. Tornadoes wil be bad storms. U.S.A. will have laser guns. We will be able to go to light speed. We will be able to build space stations. We will have light sabers. U.S.A. will have the best technology. George Lucas will be the best director in all of the galaxies far ... far ... away. They will make Playstation 2000 and Nintendo 2000. Trinity will be still be standing. We will try to make peace. Hollywood Hogan might become president and make everything red and black. We will live in flying houses. We will make space planes like in Star Wars. We will find new animals. We will have force fields to protect us. We will have a new president. We will get the planes back from Japan. We will have robots do all our work for us. We will have better computers for disabled people. We will have no more school (hopefully). Our cars' maximum speed is 1,000,000 mph and the lowest is 500,000 mph. But always be sure to wear sunscreen on Mercury and Venus, and be sure to wear a jacket outside on Pluto. We will have jet packs.

St. Vincent de Paul School

Nicholas Barwick

I think living in the 21st century will be even easier than it is now because we will have new inventions. One of the inventions might be a car that doesn't need wheels to move around. Another invention might be, if we haven't made it already, the hover craft. Another thing might be a new spaceship to take us to new planets and, out of this world of this universe to find new life out of this world. I think we will make defense systems and find a cure to different sickness in the 21st century.

Amy Berryhill

I think life in the 21st century will have electric gas pumpers. Also, in cars, if all you had to do was open the door and the seat would pop out so you could sit down. All schools would have electric chalk writers, chalk boards, and chalk erasers.

Maybe you would even have electric pianos, where all you had to do was say the note and they would play it for you.

Alison Beussink

I think in the 21st century a man will walk on Venus or Mars. I think we will be able to live in space.

I think someone will invent a portable computer. They will also invent a portable TV that you can carry everywhere you want.

I think someone will live to be 150 years old. I think another Einstein will be born.

Elizabeth Buchheit

Living in the 21st century will be fun.

I think fast food restaurants will actually be fast. They will have robot waiters.

I think there will be computer dictionaries. You can just say the word and the computer will find it, spell it, say it, tell the meaning, and use it in a sentence.

Scientists might find a cure for diabetes. All the people with this disease will be cured.

This is what I think living in the 21st century will be like.

Katie Burrus

I think people would make new models of cars and buildings. Maybe they might remodel houses and they might be made out of metal or out of wood or brass or gold or even silver. Later on when I get older, maybe about 18, I can figure out what career I want to do whether it's a doctor or an orthodontist or a pharmacist. In the 21st century, there might be a cure for a bad disease. Beauticians will make new hair designs. Or new shoe designs or even new clothes designs. There might also be new stuff to put in your hair.

Beth Caldwell

I think that in the 21st century people might be a little smarter. Then people could invent some clever things. People could invent things like tiny TVs you could take to the store with you.

People might take more care of the earth. They would not pollute so much. They would also be sure that their trash is in a can.

People would have different kinds of pets. The people that live by a forest would have forest pets. People who live by a lake would have fish. Life in the 21st century would be different from life today.

Aaron Essner

If I could go to the 21st century, I think there would be a little bit of good and bad. I think it would be a lot more people in the world so it would be hotter. It might even get more polluted.

Some of the good things about the 21st century are that there could be robots that could do exactly what you say. There would be airplanes that would fly 30 times as fast as driving a car.

I also think the world will be peaceful and quiet. I think more people will be good than bad. I think the world will have no end.

Kristina Gartland

I think in the 21st century there will be a lot more buildings and a lot more pollution.

I think there will be a lot less animals and fish. I believe a lot more people will be saved from accidents.

Jason Patrick Goodman

There's a possibility that we could have no more wars in the 21st century. We could have better medicines like Tylenol or Advil. I think we will not have as much pollution and bigger and better places to live. Maybe we can have better people in this giant world of ours. It might be better or worse. Maybe more people will dance the Funkie Chicken at their 75th anniversary party. The laws might change, for example: no more abortion, no cars, just subways and trains. Most businesses want money and only money, but they don't realize how much they just might be hurting the earth. Some companies dump chemicals in rivers and ponds. My mom said, "The earth could change."

Kevin Hinton

I think someone will invent a pollution catcher. It's like a vacuum cleaner but only cleans pollution.

There will be cars that won't pollute as much. There won't be much electricity. There's not going to be as much oil.

People won't be as greedy. There won't be any guns or swords. Everybody will be nice and friendly. That's what life will be like in the 21st century.

Steve J. Humphrey

In the 21st century life will be okay. It will be fun. Your kitchen will do anything with the touch of a button. We will all like it.

Your car will be able to get ready before you start it. The bath will get ready before you are in the bathroom.

If you want to play something, you could play it the real way. I'm not sure what it will be like, it will be fun in the 21st century.

Neil Kanneberg

When I was watching the news one time they said that they can go 300 mph. You don't have to drive, you just have to type in where you're going.

In the future we might have robots to do our work. They will do laundry, wash dishes, make beds, fix things, and many more.

Hopefully, as the years go by, we will have peace throughout the earth. We could stop wars, and free the Americans in prison camps, and make every country free.

Brittni Kinder

Living in the 21st century will be neat. I think that someone will invent a medicine to keep you all through the winter. It will keep you from getting a cold.

I think that the bridge will be finished. I think some people might live in space. I think that the world will also have peace during the 21st century.

Parker Kohlfeld

My thoughts of the 21st century are hover crafts. They would hover over water instead of bridges. We would have hover boards too. So that means no more rubber wheels or stuck vehicles.

School would be simple. You would have different videos for each subject. The art and the music video would have to go slow sometimes because you would have to have time to do what it was doing.

The 21st century would be better because hover crafts don't run on gas so that means less pollution. The school videos are better because that means less building population.

Kristin McLain

In the 21st century I think there will be new inventions. I think the world will change.

Cars might not pollute anymore. It would be nice if the whole country had battery-powered cars.

We might find out more about dinosaurs. Or if the Indians really were the first Americans.

TVs could get so small and cordless that you could take them anywhere.

Maybe smoking and drugs won't be so important anymore. Less people might be killed in car accidents because of drunk drivers. Less animals might be on the endangered list.

I hope in the 21st century the world is better and not worse.

Hannah Reana Moore

I think living in the 21st century will be like this: all the schools will have better playgrounds, more people will have computers and there will be toys that can fly.

You can get lights where you clap and the lights go on and off.

You can get computers that do what you say or a computer that knows what it is going to print.

That is what I predict that living in the 21st century will be like.

Kelsie Neff

I think in the 21st century there will be new inventions, like a car that doesn't need a battery or gas.

There might be new medicines that help you not to have heart attacks. There will be little cars that kids of all ages can drive. Maybe there will be computers so you don't have to use a pencil.

John Oliver

I think life in the 21st century will have new machines that do the work for you. There will be aliens living on the earth. Maybe there could be automatic airplanes. There could be spaceships that are invincible. There could be new planets that people can live on. Maybe there could be a five-person bicycle.

Blake Palmer

Living in the 21st century would be fun. I think there will be new playgrounds at all the schools. And all the restaurants will deliver. I also think there will be a space trip to Mars to see if people could live there. If they could they would live in domes.

In the 21st century there will be some bad things. Like people cutting down trees just to make toothpicks. Some people might even build things on mountains. We sure hope not though.

Living in the 21st century will be like living in the 20th century but also very, very different.

Adam Parker

Living in the 21st century would be very different from now. We might land on Mars and start colonizing it.

Entertainment might be different. We might play virtual reality games. Our gameboard pieces might move on command. We might drive go-karts that can float or dive under water.

Wars might change. We might do most of our fighting in space. Our planes might fly on voice command. Our guns might have voice locks that will only open for one voice.

Science might be different. We might find hard metals strong enough to withstand anything. Space flight might be made more often. Chemicals might be safer.

Medicines may change. We might find a cure for AIDS, cancer, and viruses. Laser surgery might become absolutely unfeelable.

Computers may change. There may be less computer viruses. They might become smaller, faster. They might be able to hold more information.

From entertainment to computers it might all change. 21st century, here we come!!

Brittney Passini

In the 21st century, people will be the same. They will not die at all. They will be very excited but no, they will not die, only old age.

Before the 21st century people will make new clothes. If you've seen those kinds of shiny materials well, that might be the kind we'll use.

After the 21st century, grown-ups will make things that kids will want to use a lot. How about TV and a book? Some kids like watch TV and some want to read. They can put a miniature TV in a book. Any time you turn the page it will show a moving picture on the little TV.

By the time the 21st century is here we will have a better world. We will recycle almost everything! If we do people will only throw away a little bit. Then we can have happiness and cleanness in our world.

Rachel Phillips

In the 21st century, I think that we will have more good people than bad people. Now it seems like there are more bad people than good people. I hope that most of the bad people will go to jail. A lot of bad people are on the loose!

I hope in the 21st century there will be less pollution in the air. I bet some people are wondering what fresh air tastes like. The sky will be so pretty.

In the 21st century I hope someone will come up with a cure for heart attacks. Then not so many people will die of heart attacks.

Jordan Radetic

I think in the 21st century there may be remote controls to open up all kinds of doors. Maybe someday there will be sunglasses that can make water a different color when you go under.

There could be a can where you push a button and the soda will squirt into your mouth. There may be a book that has a button and it starts to read to you. It is useful because what if you don't know how to read?

Maybe a dog could get a job but doesn't get paid. There could be flash cards that have a microphone on it to tell if you're right or wrong.

There could be a war. There could be a computer that can talk to you. Also it could be the end of the world. That's all I can think of in the 21st century.

Megan Ruopp

I think living in the 21st century will be great! You would have new kinds of toys, new playgrounds, and new kinds of computers.

I think living in the 21st century would be like living in the tenth century. It will be cool. I would like it.

I think living in the 21st century will be like nothing you've ever seen.

Paige Schumer

Living in the 21st century would be different. Hopefully, someone will find a cure for diabetes. I know that people with diabetes must be having a hard time.

It would also be nice if someone made a cure for a cold. It would be cool to never have a stuffy nose in the winter.

Maybe someone could invent a glasses protector so people's glasses won't fog up. It would be nice to keep my glasses on.

The 21st century will be different, but I hope we like it!

David Uptmor

I think the 21st century will have no pollution. Everything will be a certain kind of electricity. Animals will not be hunted, not even for food. Airplanes will not pollute the air. Robots will help people make decisions. No one will be homeless. No one will kill anyone.

Cars will not pollute. Hover cars will be made and they will not pollute either. No one will litter garbage. Everything will be recycled.

Drew Wibbenmeyer

I think life will be like in the 21st century where lasers are used in war. Hovercrafts will be invented instead of wheels or treads. Some people might live in space stations. There might be cities in the water. We might discover life on Mars.

Erasers for chalk have millions of tiny lasers. Instead of paper you might have a small paper-shaped computer. That's what I think life will be in the 21st century.

David Westrich

I think the 21st century will be more peaceful and people will have less wars, if any, because the countries' leaders will try to work things out first. I think people will live longer because people will have more advanced technology and medicine. I think there might be people living in a colony on Mars. I think people will cut down on pollution and they will find a different way to make electricity without burning fossil fuels. I think tourists will go up into space for fun, and people will have robots for servants. I think it will be better then than now!

Lucas Thompson

I believe people will have robots serving them meals and doing chores, playing with kids or driving the cars or helping kids with their homework, doing the building so if one falls it can be replaced with another robot. If robots build it will go faster because robots could tell if its stable or not.

Shelly Frank

Life will be different in the 21st century. There will be cars that can fly in the sky! In a Weekly Reader they said that people are working on robots that talk! You might have a robot as a maid! You could put some food in the oven and in 30 seconds it's done! You could have a gate that opens all by itself! There will be something that will be like a camera, then it flashes, then you have make-up on! That's what I think the world will be like in the 21st century.

Amanda Delgado

I would probably be 75 and my children will be all grown up. They would bring their children to see me. I would give them presents. There will probably be cars that work on batteries. People will live in bigger houses. There probably will be bigger stores for people to work in.

Holly Banken

This would be like having kids and having grandkids. We would have more thing than we do now. There will be more people in the world. There will be more people living in more states and countries. More bands would be popular again. Robots will help people who are tired. We might have homework machines who do your homework. Later we may have to take rides on buses and bikes only. The law would be happy at all times. Cats and dogs wouldn't chase each other.

James Palen

I think the 21st century is going to be almost the same as now. But it will have people that have special space ships. And I will probably be a priest. I will also be a scientist and a inventor. I'll make the first robot cop. I also will make a gadget to make dogs play tether ball. In the 21st century cars would be powered by electricity. Robots will play soccer, chess, checkers and four square.

Katie Boyer

When I think about it, I think that a robot will be teaching and taking orders or playing soccer. When you take trips, you could go to the moon for a week. If you wanted to play outside but you're grounded, you would have a new and better game to play and it would be twice as good. We don't know if aliens are in space. Well I think there are and they bring peace. We don't know what it will be like but I wish everything would happen.

Ricky Harrington

There will be new shops and factories. I will be growing gray hairs. I might be married and have some kids. Probably there will be new inventions. I will probably be in the Army or in a war. I might get shot in the war. I could be a very, very rich person or a not so rich person. I might be even going bald or will be handicapped. Who knows what will happen in the 21st century?

Kerri Essner

I think that a lot of people will do stuff on the computers. Like it will comb your hair. When people drive they will have cars like the Jetsons. There will be little robots that you can control. The houses will be awesome! You can press a button and your room will change. There will be telephone TVs that you can talk on and you don't have to hold anything! People will live in space. Cars will have TVs in the seats.

Meahsha Newbern

I think we will have automatic cars that can drive themselves. I think our cars will fly in the air. There will be life on Mars. Robots wil be maids and computers will talk. Our clothes will be very different. Our phones will have a picture of the person we are talking to. The phones will not have numbers to dial.

Josh Hinton

There will be a cure for disease. Cars won't need gas. Desks will have computers. We will know more about history. The United States of America will be the richest country in the world. Billions of people will live and work in America. There will be something besides coal, electricity, and oil. Foods will be a lot healthier. Most people will live to be 100 or over. I bet the year is near 2050.

Cody Farrow

I think it will be a time where it is quite peaceful. I think scientists will have new medicines. I think scientists will invent some kind of robot that could play hockey and soccer. There might be new sports. I think space stations will be built and some people might live in them. There could be better alarm systems. I think there will be better and neater computers. I also think there will be new kinds of cars. I think there will be new clocks too.

Matthew Clements

I think when I'm 60 or 65, we will wear different clothes. There will probably be some new cars that were invented. There may be more mansions. The mansions may be built differently. There may even be more crowded, busy streets. The money people get from working may grow. The skies may be as clean as a sheet of paper that has never been used. The astronauts may have discovered a new planet. There might be more schools than there are now. There may be less crimes. I think a new sport may be invented. I think I will make enough I will live in a mansion. I would have played basketball when I was in my 30s. I think I will live in New York or Florida. I plan to be really famous. We may have a different way of getting around. That is what I think life will be like when I'm 60 or 65.

Matthew Kiblinger

I think life in the 21st century will be a lot more fun. They will make computers the size of watches. They will make robots that play sports like basketball. We will all have robots for maids. They will make Nintendo better. We will live in outer space. If we want gravity, there will be a switch to turn it on or off. That's my idea of the 21st century.

Blake Gaddis

I think we will be able to drive around in space cars like the Jetsons. There might be robots that do all the work, or you might have jet packs. There might be inflatable houses. Your house might be a space ship. You could talk and it would end up on paper. That's what I think the 21st century is going to be like.

Louise Ivers

In the 21st century, there will be girls' faces on a three dollar bill. Cars won't need to use gas, so there will be less pollution. I'll be living in Hollywood. I'll be an artist with a part-time doctor. Mrs. Welker's baby cactus will be as tall as me. There will be shoes you can float on if you wear them.

Sarah Bey

I think life in the 21st century will be fantastic. All the work in the world would be done by robots. We would live life like the Jetsons on TV. Where transportation was by space cars that would run on jet packs, not gas. Even people could live in space, not just astronauts. And you could talk through your own watch, instead of staying in the same place forever with a telephone. And the elevators would be as fast as a snap, instead of having to punch a button several times and it taking forever to get down or up. Sometimes you could take a visit down to earth by a small travel ship. That's what I think it will be like in the 21st century.

Kari Stone

I think life will all run on computers. We will have robots for maids and teachers. Everything will be electric. I think I will be living in St. Louis. There will be homes that float in outer space. We will have TVs as big and as flat as the chalkboard. All the people will have machines. I think there will be different machines. That is what I think it's goin to be like in the 21st century.

Alex Hendrickson

In the 21st century I will probably be old. By then scientists might have invented talking robots and I might be interested. I might have a couple of kids. Scientists might invent something so neat that I might even want one. Of course, I might be dead by then. If I am dead and my kids are interested at least they'll get one. If I am still alive by the 21st century I'll probably be in a nursing home. In the 21st century I hope I can still do fun stuff with my kids. I just hope I'll still be alive.

Ian Spaeth

The cars would fly like airplanes. You could see straight through airplanes. Houses would float in the air. The books would have glass over them and you would have buttons to go backwards or forwards. If you would look at a word it would appear on the paper. Plants would be holograms.

Mark Himmelberg

In the 21st century there will be electric doors that open by secret codes. Baseball players will be hitting home runs 700 feet long. There will be computer chips that type what you think or say. Cars will run on electric rails. There will be electric phones that still work when the power is out. Cars will not need motors. There will be solar energy powered homes. There will be medicine that can cure any disease in one day. There will be power plants in space. There will be villages in space. Airplanes will be able to fly to space.

Michael Merritt

When I'm 70 or 60 years old, things are going to change a lot. Cars won't run on wheels, they'll run on thrusters. The stop lights will float in the air. All of the transportation will be different. Even hats will be cooler. The boats won't float on water, they'll hover over water. That's how I think the world will change.

Kaitlynn Morales

In the 21st century I think there would be different kinds of dollar bills. Dollar bills that would be worth more money. They could start making two dollar bills like they used to. It would be great if someone made a 50 or 40 dollar bill. Someone could invent a robot that would do anything for you. Maybe the robot could clean, cook, organize things and laundry. But the robot wouldn't run out of batteries and you can just recharge it at night.

Haley Urhahn

In the 21st century our house will be 200 feet in the sky. We can't fall because they will help us to not fall. We will sleep on the pink and blue clouds. Even our houses and the buildings will be made out of clouds. If you fall you won't get hurt because the carpet will be made out of clouds.

We will get around in flying saucers.

Instead of going to the fair or a carnival, we will go to outer space. There will be rides on Saturn's rings. On the hot planets, you won't get burned, and on the cold planets you won't freeze. Life would be as fun as can be!

Mark Zimmer

Life in the 21st century will be different. More houses will be solar powered. Airplanes will be powered by air. There will be more hovercrafts than cars.

There will be a solution about where to put trash, and how to lower the amount of it.

Robots will do housework. Robots will also do city work also.