Why do you want your kids to be educated? What is the purpose of education? Because actually, now that we have A.I. that can write essays and pass the bar exam and do Advanced Placement exams just as good or better than kids can, we have to really rethink the purpose of education. The second thing we have to think about is how kids learn. We know a lot about that. And the third thing is: What should they learn? What’s the content? What are the skills?
"We know generative A.I. is being used at mass scale by students to cheat, but its challenge is more fundamental than that, of course." - Ezra Klein
Welcome back to Term 3 – Life and Living. And what could be better to discuss around our whole-school focus on ‘life and living’ than our progressive school, and the ubiquitous threats/benefits of AI.
When Living School was being planned, back in 2015, I wanted to ensure the principles of pluralism and humanism were bedded into its foundations.
One of the thinkers who has most shaped my educational philosophy is John Dewey, the American pragmatic philosopher and educational reformer. Dewey argued over 100 years ago that education is not preparation for life — it is life itself. And more than that, education is about learning to live well with others.
Dewey invites us to reflect on something simple:
When you’re standing in the supermarket and you see someone picking up an avocado – do you see them as just another shopper? A stranger? Or do you see them, even momentarily, as part of your life?
That question reveals the deeper purpose of education. At Living School, we don’t just want students to gain knowledge or master skills – we want them to see themselves as participants in a community, part of something larger, deeply connected to others around them.
This is why our Values — Respect, Responsibility, and Positive Relationships — sit at the centre of everything we do. Because we’re not raising individuals to succeed alone.
We are raising whole humans who understand that their wellbeing is tied to the wellbeing of others. That their learning is richer when shared. That their ideas are more powerful when they’re part of something collective. Scott E Page discusses research that shows diverse teams do better than homologous teams, particularly on complex tasks, due to what he calls “diversity bonuses.”
This is what Dewey meant by democracy: not just voting for institutions (which we just experienced), but a way of living together. Schools, at their best, are microcosms of that idea. And that’s what we aim to build every day at Living School: a democratic, vibrant, respectful, connected, and creative learning community.
CHANGES HAPPENING
But…
I have to reflect on the changes already experienced since 2015, which are dramatically reshaping our ‘community’.
A friend, and parent, shared with me a recent NY times podcast. It is long but it is so important – and it affirms what we are doing to develop our Living School. I urge EVERYONE to take the time to listen – https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-ezra-klein-show/id1548604447?i=1000708298931
We ARE at the storm-front of a new invasive technology – an introduced “species”. Artificial Intelligence is in its infancy – but rapidly developing. The new skill-shift is going to involve a new ‘thinking’ and ‘being’ shift. Just today, Sam Altman (what’s in a name?) remarked that he wants ChatGPT to store a human’s entire life!
There are real concerns.
More than ‘school’ change, we are at a cusp of a new transition, there is a new era in ‘living’ – and it will pose great opportunities and great challenges. My own children are using AI in ways I had not imagined – it has become a life-coach. One of my children already uses the system to ask how to argue points when having a disagreement with her partner! The other is sending it photos to ask medical questions. A friend took an audio recording of his speaker system – and ChatGPT was able to outline the fault.
I predict we will see ChatBots become personal life-coaches – and we already have seen our children form ‘real’ relationships with these algorithms. Ask your child if they have a ChatBot ‘friend’?
Our kids know much more than us!
With regard to intellect – the traditional model of reflection and deep thinking was trained via essays and reading. As highlighted in the podcast – these ‘experiences’ are greatly reduced today. We have new scales for assessment to manage AI – which all education institutions need to consider carefully.
Artificial Intelligence is already pervading so much of my output. And I would guess over 50% of you have engaged in AI to support your industry. It’s great! But it also means we need to think differently – and we must consider this tool ethically. It has profound impact on output, meritocracy, understanding, worth/value and thinking skills. It also has a huge environmental impact – we read that we won’t have the energy capacity to power the training of AI Large Language Model.
Consider the merit of ‘quality’ and the relationships of ‘expertise’ and ‘experience’ with ‘value’. For instance, we are prepared to pay for a Kings Counsel because they have such experience and knowledge in case law. There may come a time – in a few years – where a Large Language Model has sifted through all digitised case-law and can provide you with such expertise and experience just as good – if not better – at the behest of a well-constructed prompt. Consider also the concept of investment: there are already AI models starting to compete – and as these models improve, ANYONE will be able to gain wealth without membership into Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway.
The years and years of professional ‘training’ are reduced in this new paradigm to a person ‘knowing’ how to prompt an AI engine to filter out the best information.
As the podcast I shared outlines, it is “believed” AI will not replace people, but it will be people who are competent USING AI who will be in demand. And it is critical those people connect with others – other humans – so that the AI engines will remain ‘tools’ under our control. It is critical we sustain Dewey’s definition of ‘democracy’.
But here lies a difference: humans experience doing – we don’t just ‘do’ it. As mentioned in my graduation speech last year, our ‘human’ experience of ‘doing’ can be challenging – we can feel things – confidence, anxiety, success. We can exert effort – persist, feel the pull of avoidance and procrastination. But we also find reward for a job well done – for overcoming challenges. AI does not.
But humans have this propensity for finding easier ways to do things – sometimes to avoid these ‘hard’ emotions. We seek comfort.
Currently, we are going through another registration procedure (the fourth in six years) – and I have used ChatGPT and Gemini to review and refine our policy statements and action plans. Using AI has greatly reduced workload and improved the output – once checked and refined – it is amazing.
Ethical Questions to Ponder…
But there are ethical considerations.
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- And there is guilt – am I ‘cheating’? Should I be doing this as it doesn’t seem ‘right’.
- And where is this information coming from? Is there copyright infringement – and are there privacy flaws? What happens to my ‘prompt’? Try Suno.com – you can create any song on a prompt – but this ‘knowledge’ is gleaned from the creative work of thousands of musicians who have posted online – without recompense.
- What is ‘me’ and my ‘knowledge’ and what is ‘fake’ – artificial and without personal review, ownership, honesty? Did you know that 57% of text-based information on the internet is AI generated! Are you aware that experts believe this will be nearly 90% sometime this year! What are the implications on the Large Language Models – as they feed off the information they have already generated?
- What are my values – and how does AI impact my belief system? Am I eroding my ‘integrity’? Am I prepared to send my data into a system? Are you aware that those interesting images you create for icons and memes – actually are a clever way of ‘stealing’ your identity!
- How is this technology impacting me, others and our environment? It is staggering to read some statistics on water use – by 2027 AI will be using the same quantity of water 30-47 million people consume annually!!
- Are you aware recent research highlights behavioural addiction and dumbing-down?
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As an educator – there are incredible improvements (it seems). I can take a photo of a student’s work, upload it and ask the engine to review the piece (even handwritten scrawl) and prompt to give critical feedback – to ‘mark’ the work – and link to websites and passages that can guide the learner.
There are school systems – see alpha.school – where students now have access to personal AI tutors. A student can sit down for two hours a day and have a screen and sound guide them on their must-know concept developments. It can guide them with expertise, immediately assess and shape their ‘learning journey’. Then the rest of the ‘schooling day’ is all about projects and social engagement opportunities.
We are exploring this opportunity – with Brendan Cahill tackling a project to see how we can become a progressive learning hub – supporting learning with systems that can remediate and extend. This pilot will be reviewed and – with careful review – rolled out in our new Brown and Jolly Middle School development, and our Z Block ‘library’ over 2026. We are considering what does a ‘modern’ library look like, feel like, sound like. Can students ‘drop in’ rather than ‘drop out’?
Our Academy is also at the forefront of new technology with the use of our Toddle learning management platform. It has an inbuilt AI tutor just released, and we are playing in this space – with some clear advantages. An interesting aspect of an AI tutor is that it can provide feedback and (as a result of no ‘human’ relationship) there is less reaction by the learner to critical/instructive feedback. It is just “information exchange” – not judgment nor blame.
The Complexity of the Promise…
This all sounds so very ‘clever’. But this ‘project’ is not without serious questions to consider.
As stated in the podcast – should schools be islands away from tech? Because our living world WILL be so enmeshed in technology – IS so enmeshed in tech. Just go for a walk down the street in Sydney – and it is shocking to see the disconnect of humans: ear buds/headphones, smartphones and withdrawal from the ‘natural’ environment. Food/grocery deliveries to homes buzz past on E-Bikes – no longer do we need to leave our plugged-in premises.
There is also the challenge as to WHAT we consider important for success – it will no longer be the meritocracy of getting a top mark in a formulated/rehearsed essay in a three-hour examination session. Success is going to become MUCH more reliant on a learner’s engagement in learning – and not engagement in entertainment. So many of our students, currently, shy away from the effort and awareness needed to fully engage in their ‘study’.
The big determinant for future success will be application, precision, evaluation, refinement and reflection – deep learning commitment, called ‘drive’. I don’t know about you, but drive is closely linked to ambition and a commitment to a cause.
A strength of Living School is the ‘human’ connection – and this is what we will always retain. A recent survey of our staff demonstrated this underpinning value: 100% agreed; whereas in an Australian national survey only 72% felt “staff had good relationships with the students”.
The take aways from Ezra Klein’s interview with Rebecca Winthrop are numerous but a few things that resonate with me. Key was the importance not of ‘knowing’ but of ‘learning’ – and the importance of ‘experience’ to shape our humanity.
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- “Grades don’t show you how much kids are engaged. I mean, schools are not designed to give kids agency. Schools are designed to help kids comply.”
- “We’re going to need to show our merit and our credentials more and more through what the British call oracy skills. I think we’ve lost the art of listening and speaking.”
- “There’s going to be a premium on human-to-human interaction as more and more skills get automated and done by AI, which are the more knowledge cognitive tasks.”
- “Grades don’t show you how much kids are engaged. I mean, schools are not designed to give kids agency. Schools are designed to help kids comply.”
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In the podcast, the following was discussed…
“Engagement is very powerful. It’s basically how motivated you are to really dig in and learn.
It relates to what you do:
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- Do you show up?
- Do you participate?
- Do you do your homework?
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It relates to how you feel.
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- Do you find school interesting?
- Is it exciting?
- Do you feel you belong at school?
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It relates to how you think.
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- Are you cognitively engaged?
- Are you looking at what you learn in one class, applying it to what it might mean in your life outside or other classes?
- And it’s also how proactive you are about your learning.
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And when all those dimensions really work together in education that’s a very powerful construct to predict better achievement, better grades, better mental health, more enrolment in college, better understanding of content, and lots of other benefits to boot. And we need to have kids build that muscle of doing hard things. Because I worry greatly that AI will basically make a frictionless world for young people.”
I truly believe – we are not going to set up our next generation to manage this paradigm shift by continuing to think knowledge-recall is the defining quality of a ‘great’ school experience. I truly cannot believe the majority of schools have returned to ‘knowledge-based’ explicit teaching!! I cannot believe we still see the ‘mark’ rather than the ‘marque’ as defining quality.
And to offer the experiences necessary to retain humanism rather than artificial disconnected e-virtualism MUST rely on the goodwill and service-leadership mindflex of educators. And perhaps that is why 100% of our teachers reported in our survey they were “proud to work at Living School”.
Learning Experiences - one day; one week at Living School
People always think of education as a transactional transmission of knowledge, which is one important piece of it. But it is actually so much more than that: learning to live with other people, to know yourself and for developing the flexible competencies to be able to navigate a world of uncertainty. Those are the “whys” for me.