'You can't go out until you've done your homework!' How many times have we sufferers heard this unfair condition from the lips of the very same people who complained about homework in 'their day'? However, in 'their day' there was a lot less homework, stress and pressure on students.

Teachers attempt to deceive us and make us believe that homework is good for us, that in fact by doing homework we will improve our ability and do well at school. Ha! It is because of the enormous amount of homework that we stay up late trying to complete it and subsequently are tired and do not perform well at school the next day.

Why are we forced to do so much homework which is ten times the amount required to successfully hold down a good job? Why do kids do homework? Well, here are a couple of reasons why students do their homework.

Firstly there is the pressure put on by fanatic parents. Homework is done simply to avoid being beaten to a pulp by their psychopathic father.

Then you have the kids whose parents do not really care about homework, but more about other kinds of work, such as weed-pulling, vacuum cleaning, wall scrubbing and car washing. The poor children's only escape from this nightmare of chores is to lock themselves away in their room and do their homework which, by the way, cannot possibly be completed in one weekend (the teachers make sure of that).

Then there are the students who just want to be left alone by their torturous teachers and the only reason they do their homework is so that they do not spend the rest of their life in detention.

No kid likes homework, no one likes homework. The only reason I do my homework is ... well, I don't, but in the long run, surely you can see how homework pays off. You won't be beaten to a pulp, or have a bad back from weed pulling and best of all you'll have free lunchtimes which, I might add, the teachers will probably invent lunchwork for.

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Impossible? Well, 100 years ago so was an astronaut. There are a huge number of professions that are now coming into existence because of rapidly improving technology. The increasing amount of new jobs heralds the decrease in other, older jobs as well. Professions such as shorthand typists and telephonists have virtually disappeared.

But this is not new. There have always been changes in careers. Then again there are some jobs that may never disappear, such as bricklaying. For thousands of years it has always involved a few tough guys piling stones on top of each other.

Undoubtedly there will be many changes in careers in the future. For example, we may be offered jobs in a space hotel or in demolecularisation transport companies (see above). Supermicrochips may be invented which when inserted into the brain give the person full knowledge and skills, therefore removing the need for education. Could the news-teller of the future broadcast via the chips in our heads?

Will we all become jobless as technology takes over the world? Will machines be made to make machines which make other machines? However, at least a couple of people will be needed in order to make decisions.

If technology succeeds in solving the world's problems and everyone is self-satisfied (eg fed, clothed, sheltered), what will we do then? Human endeavour will not subside.

Where will our energies be directed? No food shortages, no medical problems, no domestic chores and no physical work.

Could this hypothetical situation be the dawning of a new human age? A time when people have to occupy themselves, rather than worrying about solving the world's problems. The future ... I like it already, especially those microchips &emdash; no school!

'In my day ....' Yeah, I know, how many times have you heard this one? Why exactly do elderly people go on and on about their childhood and early adulthood? Even my parents do it! Well, you might never have thought it but there is a really good reason for this annoying phenomenon. It because in 'their day' it actually was better.

Most of the middle-aged and elderly people nowadays grew up between about 1950 and 1970 and, believe me, this was the best time to live. The history books may suggest other false pretences but, I warn you, don't believe them, they haven't had story after story, time and time again, of the 'good old days' pressed into their memories by well intentioned (but very forgetful, because they've already told this one) grandparents, uncles, aunts. Sometimes even one's own parents might decide to gang up on the 'poor, innocent, naive, unknowing one', telling of how it used to be and never would be again. 'Sigh.'

But seriously, think of this revolutionary time period (1930&endash;70) in Australia. There was no locking doors at night or having to watch your back, totally opposite to today's society. There were hardly any dangerous gangs and drugs were hard to come by. Australia had a tiny population and everyone knew their neighbours.

Kids were interested in walking down the beach to go surfing, not surfing the Internet. Instead of sitting on their ever-growing backsides and increasing cholesterol level, their glazed eyes staring at a TV screen, or their hands on nintendo controls, manoeuvring a pretend gun, pretending to shoot pretend people, they were outside playing real games, with real people and they were really happy and fit. How do you think today's phrase, 'You really need to get out more', originated?

When arriving at a petrol station you didn't even need to get out of the car, and you could actually find forms of life at the bank. Ah yes, that's service for you.

Well, there are heaps more I'd like to tell you about the old, better Australia, but there simply isn't enough space (not like when I was a kid ...). Let's just hope the editors are kind and remember what it was like in the 'good old days'. Besides, now I have to go and check out my new computer game, 'Out and About'. 

©TalentEd is located at the School of Education, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.

This page updated: 23 January 2006 Webmaker: Howard Smith. hsmith4@une.edu.au