Artificial Intelligence in Education
Last year, due to the generosity of Janine and Jeff Yass, the thoughtfulness of Governor Sarah Sanders, and the providence of God, Pinnacle Classical Academy received a grant in the amount of $300,000 toward our pursuit of a permanent facility. The Yass Prize nonprofit has been a tremendous blessing to our school both through finances and information. As part of the award that Pinnacle won, I was invited to attend a summit with all the fellow awardees.
As a natural homebody, I will confess that I wasn’t exactly thrilled to go. I must also confess, however, that it was a fascinating and fun experience. There was great food, neat opportunities to network with some like-minded educators, amazing music, and some insightful panel discussions and talks.
Part of the ethos of the Yass Prize is to promote innovation. They want people to think outside the box and solve educational problems through inventiveness, rather than throwing dollars at them. In one sense, I felt that Pinnacle stuck out a bit in this landscape of tech-savvy, cutting-edge institutions. On the other hand, I thought we fit right in, as Pinnacle is trying to do something that is not even remotely mainstream in the modern educational landscape. You could say that we’re just innovating in a different direction. Perhaps where I thought we were most divergent in our convictions was during a speech given by a young man whose company was embracing the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in education.
In his talk, this man spoke of ways that AI can revolutionize lesson preparation, produce personalized education programs, and even…replace teachers. Now, a community that values innovation will naturally find some individuals who perhaps push the ideas beyond where reality can sustain them. So, it didn’t stun me that someone might think AI can eventually replace teachers. What did floor me was that this gentleman had the courage (or naivety) to make this suggestion to a room full of teachers and administrators.
When I heard the idea, I rolled my eyes and chuckled, knowing how foolish such a plan was. That being said, part of the classical mindset is to interact with the best version of each argument, to engage in the exercise of critical thinking. So, let’s give it a whirl. Replacing teachers with AI certainly could have some benefits.
No teacher could feasibly remember everything a student has missed on assessments. Even with a small classroom, teachers often need multiple assessments to observe repeated patterns that suggest a student’s struggles. AI, on the other hand, could theoretically grade assessments instantly, compare each assessment to its memory, and immediately notice repeated mistakes. It could catch in seconds what it may take a human teacher weeks to do.
AI would also allow each student’s learning track to be 100% customized. There would be no need for AI to slow the entire class down and guarantee each student has mastered the material. AI could simultaneously speed ahead with the fastest student and continue to review with students who were still struggling with a concept. “Wasted” time in class would be almost totally eliminated.
AI could also monitor the performance of an array of curricula. Performance could be easily compared throughout the year, far beyond one school’s students. Students sitting right next to each other could even be utilizing totally different resources because AI determined that different ones worked best for each student. AI’s effectiveness in determining curriculum strength would only improve with time as it acquired more and more data.
Perhaps the most obvious benefit to AI is the astronomical amount of money that would be saved by replacing teachers. Instead of paying four million teachers across the country, you’d only need to purchase AI software and the necessary devices for students to use. As it continues to be refined and improved, AI could eventually handle all the core tasks of teaching: explain lessons, provide examples, create tests and quizzes, correct mistakes, and give customized feedback. You could use the vast majority of those funds on security, health, or any economic sector.
You have to admit: it sounds feasible. If you still have doubts, my guess is that they’re related to the effectiveness of the AI itself. Maybe you disagree that AI will ever be good enough to do the above. But if the technology did reach that level, what would stop us from taking the plunge? Maybe that young gentleman had the right of it, and maybe my mocking response was borne out of self-preservation or a deficiency of creativity. Well…I don’t quite think so.
Our aforementioned technologically astute innovator made a critical error. His assertion that AI will replace teachers shows a fatal flaw. He may know tech and AI, but he clearly has no idea what teaching is. To his credit, I can see how he misunderstood the concept. I’d argue that public schools across the country have also forgotten what teaching is. For most of the modern world, teaching is about imparting knowledge–the transferring of information from one individual to another.
This notion of teaching, however, is a perversion of what it truly means to teach. Teaching isn’t transferring knowledge. Sure, that’s part of it, but only part. True education is, as G. K. Chesterton calls it, “a transfer of a way of life.” When a teacher at Pinnacle teaches, he or she is imparting a tiny bit of his or her soul to the student. The people that teach our children shape who they will become. We are, at least in part, training our students to be like us. It doesn’t get much more humbling than that!
Teaching then is fundamentally relational. AI can’t sympathize with a child who’s lost a pet and guide her through biblical grief. AI can’t reflect the love of Christ and forge a path for the student to pursue holiness. AI can’t make mistakes, apologize, and model repentance and forgiveness. AI can’t discipline children with gentleness and grace for God’s glory and their good. AI can’t demonstrate for a young boy what a biblical man in a postmodern world is supposed to look like.
Maybe I’ve got this AI thing all wrong. Maybe AI improves enough and some schools are brash enough to try replacing teachers with it. Maybe it’s even effective at raising test scores and certain performance metrics. Even if so, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’m terrified of the type of person AI teachers would create. I know that I want my boys to be trained, educated, loved, disciplined, encouraged, and taught by teachers at Pinnacle. They’re irreplaceable.
Duncan Collins
Headmaster
