Re-Humanizing Education

Education can foster mentorship and growth.  Lately, education has become focused on the grade, diploma, and credential.  Mentorship in a large group is illusory.  Mentorship happens in a group size where there is an exchange of ideas, skill development, transference of expertise, two way feedback, relationship, and meaningful conversation.  AI promises increased efficiency in education.  Get an answer quickly.  Claw back the time it takes to generate ideas or write an essay.  Yet, AI cannot mentor at least not yet.  And if it does become an able mentor, it most likely will be able to replace its human counterpart.  Students who rely on AI may turn in better papers but they will not be better thinkers, readers, writers, students, or people.  We have already outsourced memory or at least minimized its significance, now we are outsourcing thinking.  

Often when a student uses AI, it likely means that student didn’t read the content.  AI may or may not generate on topic content but the student will be oblivious either way.  If education fully adopts AI without qualification, the real skill being developed will be the ability to prompt.  This is a far cry from developing character, thought, eloquence, manners, and resilience.  

What can we do about AI?  Hold the line on education without AI.  Yes, businesses, healthcare, government, armed forces, and financial markets will all adopt AI as fast as possible but education should not be product based, its end is maturity and learning to persevere through the attainment of new skills.  Let’s re-humanize education.