To keep up with our constantly changing world, we must change with the times for the world will not wait for us to catch up. The world is charging ahead, particularly in the area of technology, and to be the best it can be, our education system must follow.

Looking around the halls of my school, technological devices can be seen everywhere: iPods sticking out of pockets and cell phones attached to every ear not already occupied with headphones.

Most teachers scream out in horror and disgust at this. They see how technology supplants books and how it can be used to cheat. To these teachers, there is no good side to our ever-increasingly technological world. I disagree.

Technology has, in the last 10 years, become essential to the world we live in. Businessmen use phones to keep up with contractors and suppliers, and in colleges around the country, technology is used to aid students in learning and memorization.

IPods are used to teach foreign languages and deliver lectures to students, lending more time for other activities in class. Wireless Internet and laptops on campuses make doing research a snap and allow students to work in whatever environment best suits them, be it a library, dorm room or outside on the front lawn.

In a world increasingly dominated by computers, this is not just a smart practice; it is a necessary one. To succeed in this changing technological world, students must have the latest knowledge of software and computer.

There are health benefits, too. A slim laptop is much easier to carry around then 12 textbooks, each roughly the size of Kansas. Scoliosis would be nonexistent; backaches would disappear.

The world in changing quickly in other ways as well and to keep up, education must evolve.

First, our schools must do a better job in preparing students for college and the real world. And that doesn't just mean preparing them for the ACT and SAT, either. Students need to be educated on things that they will face out in the real world.

For instance, free time is something that we will all have in our lives, and learning how to manage it is necessary to succeed in life. George Washington strives to teach that through its use of off-periods. That's a step in the right direction.

Second, schools simply must start later. People who are alert will always do better than people who are so tired that they might as well be zombies. Also, time changes may also reduce traffic problems.

In the classrooms themselves, change is also needed. Passionate teachers must be brought into the system by hook or by crook because those who teach well create greatness.

Evaluations and ideas for improvement should be given to students instead of passing and failing grades. F's say that a student is no good and stupid, while A's proclaim superiority and cause unnecessary competition.

Critical thinking and writing are also important and should be taught by all teachers beginning at a much earlier age. There isn't a single problem in the workforce that has been solved simply by remembering the prime factors of 55 or the ability to recall that a sandwich is a noun and not a verb. It's a lie to say that memorization is all that is necessary to succeed in life, so why are we taught as if it is?

Two courses of study should also be added to our curriculum: religious studies and sexual education. By religious studies, I mean a class that focuses on the doctrines and social and political effects of the world's major religions with a mission of promoting understanding and cooperation among the different faiths of the world.

As for sexual education, the abstinence-only approach needs done away with in favor of a class that teaches students how to protect themselves sexually. Neither teaching approach -- abstinence nor protection -- will prevent sexual encounters, but condoms prevent against STDs and pregnancies a whole lot better than nothing.

Students also need better access to higher education. More scholarships need to be offered so that more people in the United States can go to college. Many people, especially members of the lower class, do not have the means to go to college, and if we deny them further education simply for financial reasons, we are only hurting ourselves in the long run.

For the United States to be competitive, we must have a strong, educated community. College needs to be an opportunity for everyone, not just the elite members of society.

In education, it's not a game to see who makes it to the finish line first. It's a game to see if we can all make it there in the end. No one deserves to fall through the cracks, and by improving our schools, some of those cracks can be filled.