The Kids of 1977

Back in 1977, when I was all of "10 3/4" years of age (I was always such a little weirdo!), we had an assignment in school to write a paragraph about what we though life in the year 2000 would be like. The local paper printed a bunch of them, including mine.  As is often the case, my past has come back to haunt me!

An old friend, today, sent me a link to an online article on Smithsonian.com where someone has dug up these artifacts and in retrospect, we kids weren't horribly far off. Knowing all of these kids, their writing denotes a lot about their personalities and mindsets...again, mine included. I really was such a weirdo (as my sister often likes to remind me).

I could've sworn that I wrote a longer, more in depth piece...but whatever...here's what the writer put in their piece on us Kids of 1977:

"
In the year 2000 I will be 34 years old. And actually I don’t think kids will have to go to school, because I believe that families will have computers to educate students. That’s all for education. I also believe that most of the world will all be the United States of America. I also believe that business and industry will be up 75 per cent. And as for culture, the Model T will be an old artifact. And, if you have children or grandchildren, they’ll all be more interested in culture than ever.
Mike Metzger, Age 10 3/4 (Harding School)"

Now let's think about this. There are a LOT of kids being home schooled via the internet...so I wasn't too far off. As for most of the world being the USA, again, I'm not too far off. While the US hasn't expanded in the traditional sense, we have taken over much of the world in terms of pop culture. In my travels overseas, I've often referred to the "American parasite". Everywhere I've traveled I see the same crap. McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, etc. There's a section of Melton South, VIC, Australia that I call Little America due to the number of American fast food joints. While there, I refused to eat at any of them, opting instead for Australia's own Red Rooster chain.

Our horrible American TV shows are all over the world. Our incredibly awful "music" is played everywhere. Why?

Because I was correct, again, in regards to business. In fact, I think the US has surpassed anyone's wildest dreams there! American companies are everywhere...with the possible exception of the US!  No one can say that Americans aren't good at business. In fact, we've become so good at it that we've learned to not hire Americans. It's cheaper to ship our jobs overseas...but I'm going to attempt to avoid my usual "leftist" political rants on the subject...for now.

Lastly, I had stated that people will be more interested in culture than ever...and look at where we are. Sadly, we're far too interested in pop culture...but it is a part of our culture...perhaps all we really have in the way of culture. Watch the news or look online and you hear about Madonna or Lindsey Lohan or the latest reality show...all the while ignoring truly important issues. Americans still suck at geography and tend to think that the world ends at their driveway.

Yes indeed...the Model T is now an ancient artifact (which I mentioned because just a few days before writing this piece back in 1977, I got to ride in one!). My dad's old 77 Buick would be considered an antique now.

Ours is a truly unique generation. Unlike our predecessors, we seem to have stayed younger, at least at heart. Many of us have managed to keep our dreams and child-like enthusiasm for life intact. While we may not have exceeded our parents' generation in financial success, we seem to be a happier bunch. We don't seem as beaten down as many of that generation did.

To all the other 'kids' mentioned in this article (and I remember you ALL!), isn't it something to see what we wrote, begrudgingly perhaps, as school kids...4th graders I believe...reprinted today. More amazing is how RIGHT we were! I guess we really did see it all coming.

I just wish we had flying cars. We were promised flying cars! And robots! Oh wait...maybe that was just old episodes of The Jetsons......


PHOTO: Miss Golas' class 1976-77

Top Row: Don Evans, Cathy McCarty, Doug Dalbenzio, Marty Bohren, Tim Villes, Gretchen McKee, Tom Wilson

Middle Row: Yours Truly, ?, Bruce Temple, John Frey, Erica Gambos, John Francis

Bottom Row: Monica Katsaros, Teresa Terezis, Chuck Long, Janet LaRue, Sharon Blair, Joe Rayburn

Teacher: Miss Golas