Stacey Kertsman shares her concerns teaching students with the rise of AI.
As a first-year, middle school teacher, I landed myself in a classroom of precocious students. I was forced to wonder what I could offer them beyond the prescribed curriculum. I remember my university professor father suggesting to me that they didn’t need information; they needed me to help them learn to learn from one another.
Years later, I understand that they needed to cultivate curiosity, learn humility and develop the muscle necessary to push back against a culture that values “having the correct answer first” as more important than “wondering what they didn’t know” or “whether others think differently.”
Unfortunately, most schools and industries foster cultures that race towards getting things done efficiently and gathering answers. And despite the hype of the AI race, we are also finding that AI is reinforcing that focus on “getting it done faster and without human inquiry,” and that’s likely diminishing our capacity to think critically. Educators are struggling to design a path forward that includes all that is good but rejects learned ignorance.
As educators, fostering curiosity and humility can be our north star. Students must graduate curious and humbled by what they have yet to learn. In the classroom this means committing to methods of teaching that invite a range of perspectives, validate lived experiences and move beyond canonical texts.