AI and Education

I recently watched the video above. Too many times, people who make arguments about bringing in more AI into education have unrealistic dreams about AI schools in which AI somehow displaces human teachers. I believe K-12 schools will always need a caring, guiding adult presence at school. Yes, maybe AI platforms can and will be able to do a better job at teaching the hard skills, like addition, algebra, historical knowledge, etc. However, there is much more to education that just hard skills and content. Students need to develop their 4 C’s (Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity), and they needed to be guided in character development and virtue. A previous school at which I taught called these success orientations - Trustworthiness, Responsibility, Aesthetic Appreciation, Concern for Others, Kindness and Politeness, Independent Endeavor, and Group Interaction. Real human educators are needed for these roles. The AI school founder interviewed in this video still recognizes the role of educators, so I was not as skeptical at the end of the video, and I think she brings forward interesting ideas. She actually brought forward many ideas and reforms that I have thought about.

I like that her AI school individualizes instruction to the student. The student gets exactly what he/she needs instead of the cookie-cutter format that is required at basically all public and private schools. The state has standards for every grade level, and every student at that grade level has to learn those standards. Why is a student put into a grade? No, not because of ability - not because these are the standards that are best for that child. It’s just because of the child’s age or the number of educational credits to that child’s name - and no there is not much meaning behind these credits - every kid is passed along even if the the child has not truly mastered those standards. We then have ESL students who are in their first year of the USA in English 1 class “learning” esoteric grammar rules and reading incomprehensible classic literature in English 1 classes when they are actually learning basic English words like how to count to ten and colors in their ESL 1 class. This standard approach does not recognize the core principal of learning - The Zone of Proximal Development. And private schools are not excluded from this problem. Private schools as well have their standards, even though they may call the standards a different name. A student is a 12-Year-Old? Well, the student will learn 12-Year-Old mathematics … even if that child has not built the base from which to learn mathematics at a 12-Year-Old Level. By having individualized education through AI platforms, these schools can do away with these ridiculous standards that make both students’ and exceptional teachers’ lives more difficult. Of course, education could be improved even without AI by removing these unrealistic standards and allowing teachers to teach based on what kids need. But if it takes the flashy name of AI to remove these barriers, then that is one more benefit that AI can give education. Of course, AI can also make the teacher’s job much more manageable in making this differentiation possible.

I like how this AI school founder recognizes that school cannot just function with AI platforms. The students get their individualized AI platform education at the beginning of the day and then in the second half they can participate in interdisciplinary creative projects. Teachers can then function in a more interpersonal role as they come alongside students working on these projects. I think teachers can also fulfill their deeply human functions through this project-based learning - emphasizing the 4C’s and character/virtue development. I taught social emotional learning (SEL) classes and life-lesson classes. While I think these classes are valuable, and it is admirable that schools and families value these life skills enough to give school time to them, kids do not fully appreciate what teachers are telling them when they are just hearing words or doing a short classroom activity. The lessons are removed from actual practice. These projects are a great way to authentically teach these important life-lessons. And an actual intelligent, wise, caring educator is needed to interweave this character formation throughout these interdisciplinary projects.

This kind of education demands high-quality educators, so we must provide excellent conditions to attract and retain these excellent educators. AI is not a way to pay educators less because we now just need humans to be “guides” and “motivators” while AI is the “teacher”. Like any other industry that AI is disrupting, humans now have to elevate to higher levels of performance and fulfill their uniquely human roles. Everyone knows that any organization that does not adjust to AI will be left behind. But in addition to that, organizations who do not recognize the value of their human capital, which will work with the AI and provide uniquely human services, will also be left in the dust.

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Lesson 2: Vedic Society (Ancient India)