The future of ed is...mechanical? I DON'T THINK SO. (pre-rant)



We had a super day with Beth Kanell yesterday in both of my classes; I'm excited to follow up on the things the kids started. She is so deeply human/humane, and the kids warmed to her really quickly. OK, the freshmen were mute, but they are often mute when it comes to unfamiliar things, so I'm not concerned about them. They are not my students yet, so I won't be able to follow up with them directly, but I trust their teacher (my fabulous colleague and former student) to make it work. 

Then last night, I heard clips from the WH event at which the first lady introduced an AI humanoid robot, and suggested that the future of education is these machines. Good luck having a robot pivot on the fly when a kid has a disaster in their homelife. Or have a robot encourage a shy young writer to explore fanciful topics in her own fiction work, only to have her discover she's really exploring her own budding identity. Those things, and so many more, are why human teachers must be in schools. Rote subject matter delivery is not teaching. Humans need humans. 

I'll rant about that another day, when I've had enough coffee and my blood is not boiling. 

That all said, I hope you have a wonderful day. Hold your loved ones in your thoughts if you can hug them personally. 

C

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