10: November 1913

So think about this: If it were 100 years ago today instead of 100 years from now a hundred years ago today (?_?), this would be our frame of reference:
Things that had just happened within the last five years:

• The deadliest natural disaster in European history, the 1908 Messina earthquake and tsunami, resulted in over 100,000 deaths.
• The Tunguska event made for weird sunsets throughout the summer of 1908.
• Modern plastic was invented.
• A handful of small revolutions snowball into the Xinhai Revolution which ended with the abdication of China's last emperor.
• The world learned about Machu Picchu for the first time.
• Modern parachutes were invented.

Within the next year World War I would begin, kicking off for what many would consider to be one of the defining opening moments of the 20th century. From this year on major events are widely covered in middle and high school history textbooks, so let's focus in on just advancements that have had a direct or lasting impact on education:

• In 1920 commercial radio got its start.
• In 1923 "talking movies" debuted.
• In 1928 the first Oxford English Dictionary was published.
• And so was sliced bread...which has defined school lunch for millions ever since.
• In 1942 t-shirts went on sale for the first time.
• And in 1944 ballpoint pens did.
• In 1945 ENIAC was built. (This is after the Manhattan project produced the first nuclear bomb, mind.)
• In 1951 TV became color.
• 1971: VCRs
• 1972: pocket calculators
• In 1975 Microsoft was founded.
• 1979: Sony Walkman
• 1993: The Internet becomes big.
• 2003: Myspace makes social networks important.
• 2007: iPhone launches the smartphone market.
• 2010: iPad launches the tablet market.

I took these factoids nearly at random from About.com's 20th century timeline. I'm sure there are lots of important education historical landmarks that aren't listed here--

• When did the modern backpack come into style?
• Or easily tearable notebook paper?
• And whiteboards?
• And non-one-room schoolhouses?
• And textbook corporations?
• And standardized tests?
• And the first irrational political panic-laced push towards more standardized testing?
• etc.

--but the pattern I noticed here is that, technology-wise, a lot of the things that we take for granted wrt learning (especially self-directed learning) came about in the past century. If you think about 19th century education, you (or at least I) imagine one-room schoolhouses on pristine hills in very sparsely populated towns.When I think 20th century I think graded public schools and the introducing of technology to the classroom--or even more, the educational effect of technology at home.
We learn a lot (good and bad) from TV; there are tons of good educational programs on the radio (and via the radio-esque podcast); and only very recently has the Internet, social networking, and portable access to both become a reality. We're only just starting out here in the 21st century. In a hundred years' time, people might consider these past 13 or so opening years of the 2000s cultural relics of the 20th century, with the 21st century only coming into its own later (hopefully not, this time, through the gates of a major war). Is it likely that our current, much maligned public systems of education will dissolve into or be greatly changed as time trudges forward? I think so.
I'm not sure what's coming, but it's exciting to think that despite all the innovation we've been seeing the past 15 years, we're still quite unaware of what kind of thing we're holding. With 21st education, we're really just getting started.