How to Do More with Less

10The Future of Education

If AI is really transforming the way we teach our children, not only in method but also in content, is it preparing them for a future shaped by AI in the workforce? I surveyed around a dozen K-12 educators, and I found that while students are frequently using tools like ChatGPT to complete assignments, there's been surprisingly little shift in curriculums.

In this cat and mouse game, it's the students that speed ahead in enveloping AI into their work while it's the teachers who are less acquainted with these tools, and yet they decide what the students spend time learning.

Should We Allow Our Kids to Use ChatGPT in School?

On one side of the argument, you have educators arguing that it's simply the same as using a calculator to complete math homework instead of calculating everything by hand. The calculator exists to speed up the process, but it's the student who needs to know which buttons to press. Similarly, in the ChatGPT world, it's the student who needs to know how to prompt and then take those results to massage into the final piece of work.

Others, however, argue that banning tools like ChatGPT is essential. They believe students need foundational skills in coherent thinking and doing math by hand, which then serve as the building blocks of more advanced thought. After all, even though we use calculators in high school, we all start out learning arithmetic by hand.

Educators Lack Training on AI

It might also be the case that the anti-AI ...