Educating and Learning in the Age of A.I.

By Dr. RYAN WOOLEY
Birchwood Head of School

In 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) is all the rage, hyped by some to have more seismic impact than the Internet. One only needs to perform a quick search online to find dozens of articles, some in high-profile publications, proselytizing how the world will change and how entire industries will be supplanted. 

While the benefits of AI are well-documented in all this press, there is a persistent underlying question: “What will people do?” And, if you are a parent or teacher, that question begs another: “What will still be available for my child/student when they reach a working age?” If you run a school, you might ask, “What should schools focus upon in the age of AI?”

At a recent annual conference of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), an educator asked this very question to presenter Nita Farahany, a Duke University neuroscience professor. Farahany’s answer? “Make your students more human.” 

In his address to faculty and staff during opening meetings for this academic year, Hawken Head of School Scott Looney took this point a step further. He shared with the faculty all the things that AI can already do better than humans, even in this nascent stage. 

The list was vast and cut through even the highest levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, a benchmark national framework developed by educators in 1956 for organizing educational goals. 

Dr. Looney shared how AI is now writing software code, identifying its flaws, reaching out to other AI for corrective advice, and then revising – all without the help of humans. 
 
He then asked this question: “What can humans do better than AI?” His answer was similar to Dr. Farahany’s: “Be a trustworthy human.” 

Computers don’t have a conscience. They might be able to memorize and spit out definitions of all the Aristotelian virtues, but they haven’t had to wrestle with courage. 

An AI bot can tell us all about the history of the word gratitude, but it doesn’t know what it really means because doing so requires feeling gratitude and then finding the expression that matches those feelings.

AI might be able to feign humility via programming or large language model learning, but it can’t really know what humility is because it doesn’t have the comparative lived experience of living without it or knowing someone who has it. It is the same for compassion, wisdom, and trust. 

So, looking ahead, I have the wonder of an intrigued technologist. I also have the concerns of a father, worried about what jobs will be available for my children. I have the responsibilities of a school leader to make sure our academic program continues to evolve and respond to the world. 

Still, while I wonder what pivots I need to make in these various roles, I am excited about what new capabilities might be introduced for solving real problems. Which, after all, is the very thing we are shaping our students to achieve.

I don’t, however, wonder if Birchwood has a place in the world of AI. I know for sure that it does. 
Back

Recent Posts

List of 12 news stories.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

4400 West 140th Street  |  Cleveland, OH 44135  |  216.251.2321