As technology has improved and the internet has become ubiquitous in schools, old learning tools of yesteryear are falling by the wayside. Some of the following items have disappeared completely from schools. Others are hanging on, but are slowly being phased out in favor of new tech. Reminisce on school days gone by as we bring back five things you no longer see in school (or won’t see soon enough).
The TV Cart
Seeing the TV cart rolled into your classroom was always cause for joy on the part of both teachers and students. Teachers just had to press play (once they figured out how to work this contraption) and students relished the opportunity for movie-watching. But with computers and YouTube, TV carts are as obsolete as the VHS tapes they played. Relegated to storage, the TV cart has likely seen its last days.
Overhead Projector
The overhead projector. Time to turn down the lights and smear up some plastic overhead slides with erasable marker (or ruin them forever with permanent marker). With powerpoint presentations, the overhead projector of yesterday has been replaced by newer, smaller digital projectors that don’t need to be wheeled around on a cart.
Floppy Disks
A staple of the computer labs of yore, floppy disks, with their one megabyte of storage, were made irrelevant a long time ago. Another computer lab powerhouse that has slipped into the distant past? Oregon Trail. Countless students spent untold hours blazing across a green and black 8-but landscape just to succumb to dysentery or other dangers of the trail. Oregon Trail’s 21st century equivalent? Sim City.
Languages on Tape
Once considered cutting edge, learning foreign languages by listening to a cassette tape (or possibly a CD) is a thing of the past. Now students can listen to foreign language speakers from countless outlets online, including real-life sources like news broadcasts and TV shows.
Chalkboards
Chalkboards haven’t disappeared from schools, and they’ll likely be around for the near future. But more and more chalkboards are being replaced with whiteboards, projection screens, and wall-mounted touchscreen computers that make chalkboards look more like they belong in a museum than a classroom. Chalkboards had a good run, but sooner or later they’ll be a rarity.