Our parents had 35-year careers, we will have 45-year careers, but our kids will have 55-year careers. Will an upfront education of 16 years be enough for higher longevity in a world of constant change? I know I am being predictable, but given that last year will be remembered as the year artificial intelligence went from artificial to real, I believe the best habit, tool, and skill we can give Neev kids is the love of reading. “Literacy in itself is not an education” is a famous assertion by Mahatma Gandhi, highlighting that reading (and writing) are merely tools, and the true goal of education is holistic development, and context matters. So let’s turn to the current context, to understand why reading becomes an important tool today.
In education, beyond planning study schedules and a few logical uses in skill-intensive math or languages, AI is largely used as a Google replacement, evading learning with “cognitive offloading”. Our student group working on AI policy explored use cases for learning with AI, learning about AI and learning for AI. They realised that while kids (and teachers) spend most of their time using AI for convenience, making work easier/quicker, the MIT and Stanford studies demonstrate that this cognitive offloading reduces developing brains’ capacity, creating future vulnerabilities. The late Daniel Kahneman argued more than a decade back, that human beings are “lazy” by nature, meaning our brains are hard-wired to conserve energy.
The 20+ yr history of Neev parallels the birth and growth of the ‘Anxious generation’ for whom play-based and physical childhood is replaced by a phone based and digital one. And if we thought social media was toxic, AI takes the digital temptation to the next level. Fighting this gravity will require bravery; the first three words in a book recently written about my first generation entrepreneur father were: Veer Bhogya Vasundhara-“the brave shall inherit the earth.” Bravery may be the most valuable of all virtues because it is hard to fake, and is greatly undervalued in children today.
As parents and teachers, it is our job to help young learners without impulse control whose long-term perspective is not developed, that moderation is a superpower, and present them the alternative. We need to encourage learners to take more opportunities for unique, self-driven work, physical work, interaction with humans, leadership, service, reading, writing, debate, music, and scientific thinking; in fact advise them to raise their hand, show initiative, show up, show optimism for their future. Pastoral care needs to merge with academic life in ways that it never has before, to ensure learners don’t just flow into the dehumanising AI vortex. The partnership between parents and teachers, around shared values, is now more important than ever because learning is not linear, it’s modular, and works differently for every child. Meeting this drives student-led initiatives that build community culture at Neev, besides the launch of the IBCP, and the upcoming ‘World of Work’ initiative. All of this harks back to the philosophy of Gandhiji’s prescient, ‘Nai Taalim’
I am not arguing for or against technology or reading. I am asking what a good education is. This is a different inquiry. A more ancient one. And perhaps a more urgent one. Read more. Reflect more. Let’s build a better world for our children, with our children.
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