Our Students Need Us, But It's Not To Teach Them Biology. They Need us to Reinvent Education and "Teach" (About) "AI"

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The myth of the “digital native” is one of the most dangerous lies in modern education—a seductive illusion that today’s students, by virtue of growing up with screens, somehow understand technology, including AI (Dr. Sabba Quidwai). They don’t. Yes, they can scroll, swipe, and game—but that’s surface-level fluency, not deep comprehension. It’s certainly not going to prepare them for the AI World.

The real paradox? While AI is becoming more capable of teaching traditional subjects like biology, history, and even calculus, students remain utterly unequipped to understand, question, or shape the AI systems that are rapidly rewriting the rules of their world.

This essay dismantles the comforting fantasy of student tech-savviness/comfort and exposes a catastrophic failure of priorities. We’ve outsourced the wrong things. What students truly need is not necessarily more human-delivered content—they need guidance navigating an era where machine intelligence that exceeds our own has become a commodity. K–12 education doesn’t need tweaks. It needs a ground-up reinvention to prepare humans—not for better test scores, but for survival, agency, and meaning in a world no one fully understands yet. This isn’t about using AI to write lesson plans and vocabulary lists. It’s about radically rethinking what it means to be human and to be educated in the age where machines exceed our own intelligence.

“(AI)’s going to get really smart really fast,"
Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, April 2025

It’s not just this student who is worried about her future.

Many young adults are worried that AI will negatively impact their future career prospects, with a substantial percentage expressing concern that AI could take over many jobs currently performed by humans. This anxiety is particularly acute for those in fields perceived to be more susceptible to automation.

Compounding these fears is a widespread concern among students about their preparedness for an increasingly AI-driven future. Despite a high rate of AI usage in their studies, a significant portion of students do not feel ready for the AI-enabled workplace, lacking sufficient knowledge and skills. This sentiment is echoed by higher education leaders who also doubt the preparedness of recent graduates to effectively navigate professional environments where AI proficiency will be crucial. The rapid advancements in AI technology and its integration across various sectors have sparked feelings of uncertainty among individuals, particularly regarding the need for continuous skill updates to remain relevant in the job market. Students are looking at the fast-changing world and questioning whether their current coursework is adequately preparing them for the realities of tomorrow's workplaces

And it’s not just students. As the capabilities of AI improve exponentially, getting closer and closer to human-level intelligence (commonly referred to as “AGI”) in “all domains in which we are intelligent” (Yann LeCun), more and more teachers and professors have become worried about the future of their work.

In fact, there is a recent Chronicle of Higher Education article (“Are You Ready for the AI University?”) that makes some basic claims .

Across the country some institutions are already piloting fully AI-instructed courses and utilizing AI to enable higher yields and improve retention, graduation rates, and job placement. Over the course of the next 10 years, AI-powered institutions will rise in the rankings…Accrediting agencies will assess the degree of AI integration into pedagogy, research, and student life. Corporations will want to partner with universities that have demonstrated AI prowess. In short, we will see the emergence of the AI haves and have-nots….Savvy campus leaders are already promoting their institutions as AI-enabled or AI-driven; in the next decade, AI will become central to these institutions’ brands, like a lazy river or a winning football team. Colleges that extol their AI capabilities will be signaling that they offer a personalized, responsive education, and cutting-edge research that will solve the world’s largest problems. Prospective students will ask, “Does your campus offer AI-taught courses?” Parents will ask: “Does your institution have AI advisers and tutors to help my child?…Faculty members often claim that AI can’t do the advising, mentoring, and life coaching that humans offer, and that’s just not true. They incorrectly equate AI with a next-generation learning-management system, such as Blackboard or Canvas, or they point out AI’s current deficiencies. They’re living in a fantasy. AI is being used to design cars and discover drugs: Do professors really think it can’t narrate and flip through PowerPoints as well as a human instructor?..I can think of no plausible scenario in which there will be an equal number of faculty members in 10 years as there are today. Will there still be human-led instruction in some. places? Of course. We still have record shops and drive-in movie theaters. But they are vestiges of how things were, not a reflection of actual market preferences…Students will no longer sign up for courses; they will work with their AI agents to build personalized instruction. A student who requires a biology course as part Of their major won’t take the standard three-credit course with a lecture and lab that meets for 14 weeks with the same professor. Instead, the student will ask their AI agent to construct a course that transcends the classroom, campus, and time. The AI agent would find expert scholars across the globe, line up real-time or recorded video lectures, and simultaneously incorporate material from YouTube, Google, and university libraries.

The same applies to K-12 education, though to a lesser degree. Parents who are considering relocating to a certain area will soon start asking these questions of K-12 schools. Parents interested in enrolling their children in private schools will as well.

And they won’t just want their children to learn about chatbots; they will want them to learn about other advanced AI tools. And they will expect schools to help their children learn to navigate the AI world.

Of course, the more AI is introduced into schools, the more teachers become apprehensive about their jobs. Bill Gates recently said AI will replace teachers within 10 years.

This inevitably generates adult resistance to “AI,” both in idea and application.

Will AI be additive, or will it replace? I think it’s more likely to replace if we just continue the academic status quo.

Let’s look at each education “level.”

I don’t see the demand for human elementary school teachers to decline to any significant degree, as parents are not going to leave primary children in the hands of robots (though there will be more home caregivers as AI accelerates unemployment). The same is probably true to a degree in middle school.

In high school and college, however, the dam will burst.

High school students, despite being under constant surveillance at school due to liability, work as care givers/baby sitters, are employed, drive, date, etc. The actual need for supervision of high school students is very low.

College is very expensive, often requiring students to take on lifetime of debt. They do not need any supervision.

There are still many reasons to go to brick and mortar high schools and colleges, but learning content won’t be one of them.

These students can learn on their own at home and intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) will make it all easy.

If you are skeptical, think for a minute. Do you think an AI can’t teach a student a prescribed, content-focused curriculum such as biology where there is a textbook that matches that exact curriculum and really requires almost nothing (if anything) else than for the student to parrot back what he or she is taught?

And if you don’t think it can do this, how could it possibly help them thrive in an AI World?

Anyhow, I think there are lot of students who could do well on AP bio learning from an ITS. Unmotivated students may learn less, but how much they are learning even from human teachers is quite low.

Moreover, whatever students lose from not having a human teacher would likely be offset because an intelligent tutoring system can provide personalized instruction tailored to each student's unique learning pace and style, allowing them to master difficult concepts without feeling rushed or held back by their peers. It can offer immediate, specific feedback on practice problems, identifying misconceptions instantly rather than waiting days for assignments to be graded. The system can adapt content delivery based on real-time performance data, ensuring students receive additional support precisely where they struggle while accelerating through areas of strength. Available 24/7, it enables students to study during their optimal learning times rather than being constrained to scheduled class periods, presenting complex biological concepts through multiple explanatory approaches to accommodate diverse learning preferences. It provides unlimited practice opportunities with immediate correction, particularly valuable for memorization-heavy topics like cellular processes and taxonomic classifications, while eliminating the social pressure that might prevent students from asking "obvious" questions in traditional classroom settings. By integrating spaced repetition algorithms, it optimizes long-term retention of key biological concepts, potentially democratizing access to high-quality AP Biology instruction for students in schools with limited resources or those requiring flexibility in their learning schedule.

Plus, students will not be subjected to traditional classroom surveillance with constant monitoring of their behavior and attention, forced to sit uncomfortably in hard desks designed with little ergonomic consideration, or get yelled at by teachers who might be frustrated or overwhelmed by classroom management challenges. In many ways, the digital learning environment creates a psychologically safer space where students can focus purely on mastering biology concepts rather than navigating classroom social dynamics or teacher temperaments that can sometimes interfere with optimal learning conditions.

So, what do we actually need human teachers for?

To Teach Them (About) AI

Now, you may jump to a conclusion and think, "Hey, Stefan is an AI junkie. He just wants the students to learn about what he cares about from humans."

That's not the case at all. I want a human working with them to learn about AI because AI is new, because it is scary, because it's going to change their whole lives.

AI will fundamentally reconfigure the entire economic landscape they'll enter as adults. Sam Altman has said, correctly, that we need “new economic models.” That’s about a lot more than a standardized curriculum.

AI will also change how our students live and how they understand themselves to be. Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman “expects the workers of the future to develop close relationships with artificial intelligence agents, to the point of symbiosis…he said younger generations will inherit a changed world.”

And unlike fixed content that they can regurgitate,, they (like us) don’t know how to manage in an “AI World” (Gates), let alone an AGI World. Many people think they are “AI Native" and they know AI, but they are not (Quidwai).

AI will redefine what constitutes valuable knowledge, shifting emphasis from memorization to discernment, from information recall to wisdom in application (Dasey).

AI will lead to questions related to act to no longer being the smartest people on the planet. How will react to the fact that AI is now performing tasks that, for most of human history, only we were capable of doing.

AI will lead to questions about whether AIs should be granted legal personhood.

AI will alter how we interact with each other, potentially deepening digital mediation in relationships while simultaneously creating new forms of collaboration across distances and disciplines.

Navigating this landscape will require wisdom that algorithms can't provide—the human capacity to weigh human values, recognize what matters to humans, and help us manage changes to our own humanity..

Students will need resilience to adapt rapidly repeatedly throughout their lives as technologies evolve, requiring experienced human guides who can model how to maintain agency amid rapid change while embracing beneficial innovations with appropriate critical thinking.

This is where schools and human teachers can thrive.

A reimagined grade 9-12/16 (it could start younger) community, led by humans but embracing technological change, could foster the development of crucial skills that will remain distinctly human even as AGI capabilities expand. This new educational model would prioritize wisdom cultivation, helping students develop the ethical reasoning and discernment that machines cannot replicate. By focusing on these uniquely human capacities, schools can ensure students bring valuable perspectives to an increasingly automated world.

Resilience represents another cornerstone of this educational approach, with students learning to adapt to rapid technological and social changes. This means developing not just cognitive flexibility but emotional intelligence to navigate uncertainty. The cultivation of these qualities requires a supportive community environment where students can experiment, fail, and grow without undue pressure or judgment. Teachers would model resilience themselves, demonstrating how to learn from setbacks and adjust to new circumstances, providing living examples of the adaptability students will need throughout their lives.

Collaborative skills take on renewed importance in an AGI world, as the ability to work effectively with others remains a distinctly human strength. Educational communities would emphasize team projects that require diverse perspectives and complementary abilities, teaching students to recognize and value different forms of intelligence and contribution. These collaborative experiences would intentionally mix technological and human elements, helping students understand where AI tools can enhance human creativity and where human connection remains irreplaceable.

Communication mastery stands as perhaps the most essential skill set for the AGI transition. While machines can generate language with increasing sophistication, the nuanced understanding of human emotion, cultural context, and ethical implications remains uniquely human. Schools would emphasize not just technical communication skills but the development of voice, perspective, and empathy in expression. Students would learn to communicate effectively across generations, disciplines, and viewpoints, preparing them to bridge human understanding in a world of powerful but limited artificial intelligence.

This educational transformation necessarily involves the entire community in the learning process. The traditional boundaries between teacher and student would become more fluid, with everyone recognized as both learner and educator at different times. Students might teach some technological skills to adults while community elders share wisdom and life experience. This multi-directional flow of knowledge acknowledges that in a time of rapid change, expertise is distributed throughout the community rather than concentrated in designated educators alone.

Schools would evolve to become true community knowledge hubs, gathering and distributing information across generations. Classroom projects would incorporate real community challenges, making education immediately relevant while connecting students to the broader world. Community members from diverse backgrounds and professions would regularly participate in educational activities, bringing their specialized knowledge into the learning environment. This approach recognizes that preparing for an AGI world requires drawing on the full spectrum of human experience and wisdom.

The reimagined educational community would support lifelong learning, eliminating the artificial boundary between "school years" and "working years." Instead of viewing education as a time-limited phase of life, schools would develop flexible programs allowing community members of all ages to continue their learning journey. Former students would remain connected to the educational community throughout their lives, returning to share expertise and experiences while continuing to develop new skills as the world changes around them.

This new approach envisions schools not as places people simply pass through on their way to something else, but as permanent anchors in a continuously learning community. Such institutions would maintain knowledge repositories and skill-sharing networks serving the entire community, creating intergenerational mentorship cycles that preserve and transmit human wisdom.

As AGI transforms career paths and knowledge requirements throughout people's lives, these educational communities would provide ongoing support for personal and professional reinvention, helping everyone navigate technological disruption with confidence and purpose.

Starting in June 2025, no student will graduate prepared to “enter the world.” They’ll need our continuous ongoing support, just not in ways we imagine.