Trump, Musk, DOGE, and AI Come for Teachers

Educators can avoid their demise, but not if they continue doing what they are doing.

TL;DR

• If schools don’t change, teachers will be replaced by AI.

• Getting teachers to generate Lesson Plans, Worksheets, and Quizzes with AI will accelerate that, not slow it down.

Trump, Musk, DOGE, and AI are coming for teachers.

Trump, Musk, DOGE — They are gutting all federal funding related to “diversity,” “equity,” inclusion,” “accessibility” and “principles and frameworks” related to those concepts. Court cases abound, but they’ll be able to wrestle away a lot of the funding, they are firing the people who are responsible for overseeing the funds, and new GOP budget proposals include reductions in federal funding for education.

Trump, Musk, DOGE, and AI — They are starting to replace federal workers with bots. They are coming for teachers.

I’m not going to wade into the details of the teacher vs. bot debate here, but two years ago I said that finances would put some pressure on schoools to replace teachers with bots. Now, I didn’t think this would be an artificially generated crisis, but, regardless, there is one. School budgets for FY 2025-6 and beyond will be getting slashed and burned.

What can schools and teachers do? Curriculum reform!

A lot of status quo efforts related to AI in schools is focused on getting teachers to use AI to teach the existing curriculum in existing ways (teach content, test). AI CAN DO THIS. These approaches merely accelerate the demise of teachers.

Human teachers want a role in the education system of the future, their roles have to change. They have to become more like Coaches and Guides.

For example, in Alpha School, content instruction is largely left to the AIs in the morrning and then teacher Guides work with students in the afternoon on projects, debates, becoming entrepreneurs, etc. The model is simple AI-Human-AI-Human. It adds intelligence rather than replaces it.

How Debate Coaching (my field) Aligns with the Coaching/Mentor Model

1. Skill Development Over Rote Learning

   • A debate coach doesn’t just teach students to memorize arguments; they train them in critical thinking, research, reasoning, and public speaking.

   • Similarly, a mentor in education develops students’ abilities rather than just delivering knowledge.

2. Guided Practice and Feedback Loops

   • Debate coaching involves iterative improvement—students practice, get feedback, refine, and improve.

   • The coaching/mentor model in education focuses on helping students apply knowledge through projects and discussions, providing feedback along the way.

3. Encouraging Independent Thought

   • A debate coach teaches students how to think, not what to think.

   • Teachers in a coaching model help students develop autonomy by guiding them through inquiry-based learning rather than just giving answers.

4. Personalized Learning

   • Debate coaches work one-on-one with students, tailoring feedback to their individual strengths and weaknesses.

   • In a coaching model, teachers guide students at their own pace, focusing on individual progress rather than standardized instruction.

The biggest problem with the status quo AI-in-education efforts is that they mostly focus on AI automating traditional teaching (lecture → test → grade). This misses the point—AI should free up teachers to take on new roles rather than replace them.

Teachers Must Become Coaches & Guides

For teachers to stay relevant, their roles must shift from content delivery to skill facilitation. Instead of lecturing, they should focus on:

• Helping students apply AI-driven knowledge through projects, discussions, and debates.

• Guiding students in creativity, collaboration, and ethical decision-making.

• Training students to question, analyze, and critically engage with AI-generated cont

If schools don’t change, teachers will be replaced by AI. Getting teachers to generate Lesson Plans, Worksheets, and Quizzes with AI will accelerate that, not slow it down.