Based on our current understanding of youths' brain and body development, could John go further in a critique of the education system itself?
The devices are obviously terribly harmful, but is the classroom itself not? Being segregated by age and constantly overseen by paternal authorities, energetic children are made to sit still and listen to an instructor in a fluorescent-light orderly indoor space where everything is prescribed, all of which completely clashes with the evolved psychology and biology of human youth (especially males).
If edu-tech is so bad for kids' learning, why are companies like Alpha Schools, Alpha Anywhere, Math Academy, etc. performing so stunningly well with AI-integrated learning?
For those who are unaware, the Alpha School in Brownsville, TX, is in the 99th percentile for school ranking, with the average student scoring in the top 2 per cent for English and Math, despite being in a poor educational neighbourhood. and outsourcing most, if not all, pure academic teaching to the AI. They still have human teachers, but it's more analogous to the role of a sports coach than a teacher in traditional terms.
What do you think of lowest common denominator teaching? Should a class be aimed at the weakest students, the strongest students, or somewhere in between? What's the best way to deal with attainment differences?
What advice would you give to a Curriculum Coordinator responding to the AI invasion of our learning spaces? How can schools develop robust actionable policies that protect the outsourcing of our children's thinking to AI? Given the incredible access and how many educational institutions are embracing AI- the challenge to resist this seems overwhelming. The cut and paste from the internet of the previous decades was already challenging critical thinking and deep learning as has generic dumbed down curriculum of the past. But AI is a whole new ball game. What does education for content expertise and critical thinking look like in 2026 and beyond? (From a Little Melbourne school that Jared once worked with many moons ago)
My grandfather (I'm 70 now) had an 8th grade public school education that included Latin, algebra, geography, world and american history and a great English section. I graduated high school in 1973 with a year of Latin, three of Spanish, a good English grammar and literature program (early on diagramming sentences no less) sound American and European history (Thank you Mr. Mochnoc) , Algebra and pre-calculus, physics, biology, chemistry, etc. A rounded program. Plus, physical education two to three times a week, music once a week and electives in band, chorus, etc. Not to mention "clubs" where we could follow any number of narrower interests. Also, mechanical drawing, metal shop (where I learned basic arc welding, oxy-acetylene cutting and brazing) and/or woodshop (I couldn't fit that one in, alas). After school sports where I wrestled and was a member of a top notch concert choir (Thank you Mr. Kuiawa). My high school was NOT considered anywhere near top notch.
We had no police presence, virtually no crime, and it was only a decade or so prior that firearms might be in student vehicles to be ready to go into the field after school during hunting season. No phones, no screens. Although we did have a 2400 baud teletype link to a main frame in a nearby college.
From your vantage point, what happened? What were the drivers to where we are today? Who benefits?
In one-on one-instruction of a grade school student, how many hours do you reckon it would it take for a great tutor to meet or exceed the amount of learning that a typical public school provides in one week?
Whilst the current moral panic / justified concern is about the effect of screens, social media and technology on children and teenagers, what is the long term effect on adults of so much of modern society being linked to a screen?
Hi Jared, if the Turing test is to see if AI can trick a human into thinking its human, could one AI fool another AI into thinking the same, THEN could AI develop its own secret language so advanced only another AI could see it, and if so would the second AI tell its "owner" what was going on!
Will being addicted to screens be the undoing of the west?
Smartphones and the internet have fostered a generation of deluded-pseudo-intellectualism, and oncoming A.I will bring a sclerotic indifference to intellectual pursuit of excellence..."a brave new world". Will the future connectivity of the triune brain atrophy?
The great scientific and artistic achievements of the West, from the 18th to early 20th century, were by people (mostly men) educated in what many today would consider the wrong way - rote memorization, religious instruction, etc. One room school houses, parochial schools, the New York public schools with three to a bench. Were those achievements made despite how they were educated or because of it?
Based on our current understanding of youths' brain and body development, could John go further in a critique of the education system itself?
The devices are obviously terribly harmful, but is the classroom itself not? Being segregated by age and constantly overseen by paternal authorities, energetic children are made to sit still and listen to an instructor in a fluorescent-light orderly indoor space where everything is prescribed, all of which completely clashes with the evolved psychology and biology of human youth (especially males).
If edu-tech is so bad for kids' learning, why are companies like Alpha Schools, Alpha Anywhere, Math Academy, etc. performing so stunningly well with AI-integrated learning?
For those who are unaware, the Alpha School in Brownsville, TX, is in the 99th percentile for school ranking, with the average student scoring in the top 2 per cent for English and Math, despite being in a poor educational neighbourhood. and outsourcing most, if not all, pure academic teaching to the AI. They still have human teachers, but it's more analogous to the role of a sports coach than a teacher in traditional terms.
What are the best bits of advice you can give or have heard that support the flourishing of people who are severely learning disabled?
If you were to boil down your advice for parents into a sentence or two, what are they?
What do you think of lowest common denominator teaching? Should a class be aimed at the weakest students, the strongest students, or somewhere in between? What's the best way to deal with attainment differences?
Have you or any of your collaborators studied how individuals with Down's syndrome learn and how to teach them?
What advice would you give to a Curriculum Coordinator responding to the AI invasion of our learning spaces? How can schools develop robust actionable policies that protect the outsourcing of our children's thinking to AI? Given the incredible access and how many educational institutions are embracing AI- the challenge to resist this seems overwhelming. The cut and paste from the internet of the previous decades was already challenging critical thinking and deep learning as has generic dumbed down curriculum of the past. But AI is a whole new ball game. What does education for content expertise and critical thinking look like in 2026 and beyond? (From a Little Melbourne school that Jared once worked with many moons ago)
My grandfather (I'm 70 now) had an 8th grade public school education that included Latin, algebra, geography, world and american history and a great English section. I graduated high school in 1973 with a year of Latin, three of Spanish, a good English grammar and literature program (early on diagramming sentences no less) sound American and European history (Thank you Mr. Mochnoc) , Algebra and pre-calculus, physics, biology, chemistry, etc. A rounded program. Plus, physical education two to three times a week, music once a week and electives in band, chorus, etc. Not to mention "clubs" where we could follow any number of narrower interests. Also, mechanical drawing, metal shop (where I learned basic arc welding, oxy-acetylene cutting and brazing) and/or woodshop (I couldn't fit that one in, alas). After school sports where I wrestled and was a member of a top notch concert choir (Thank you Mr. Kuiawa). My high school was NOT considered anywhere near top notch.
We had no police presence, virtually no crime, and it was only a decade or so prior that firearms might be in student vehicles to be ready to go into the field after school during hunting season. No phones, no screens. Although we did have a 2400 baud teletype link to a main frame in a nearby college.
From your vantage point, what happened? What were the drivers to where we are today? Who benefits?
In one-on one-instruction of a grade school student, how many hours do you reckon it would it take for a great tutor to meet or exceed the amount of learning that a typical public school provides in one week?
What aspects of Scandinavian education systems should be implemented to steer North American school systems in a more successful direction?
Whilst the current moral panic / justified concern is about the effect of screens, social media and technology on children and teenagers, what is the long term effect on adults of so much of modern society being linked to a screen?
What effect is this new gender ideology having on the developing brains of children?
I am not asking about morality or politics.
I am asking about neuroscience.
What happens when kindergarten children are exposed to sensualised drag shows?
What happens when teenagers are told they can be any sex or gender they choose?
How does that affect the development of their brains?
Hi Jared, if the Turing test is to see if AI can trick a human into thinking its human, could one AI fool another AI into thinking the same, THEN could AI develop its own secret language so advanced only another AI could see it, and if so would the second AI tell its "owner" what was going on!
Will being addicted to screens be the undoing of the west?
Smartphones and the internet have fostered a generation of deluded-pseudo-intellectualism, and oncoming A.I will bring a sclerotic indifference to intellectual pursuit of excellence..."a brave new world". Will the future connectivity of the triune brain atrophy?
The great scientific and artistic achievements of the West, from the 18th to early 20th century, were by people (mostly men) educated in what many today would consider the wrong way - rote memorization, religious instruction, etc. One room school houses, parochial schools, the New York public schools with three to a bench. Were those achievements made despite how they were educated or because of it?