alt Hacker News> But today that's no longer the truth, and for the better. I am happy students don't have to go over the same repetitive low-value processes that I had to go to. Students can now focus on more high level valuable tasks: understand the domain, compare evaluation methods, compare models, balance tradeoffs, present solutions/reports, etc. It's like in the 50s when students had to memorize tables of logarithms. Nobody misses that.
Maybe when it comes to any coding-related learning, I can agree with that point.
However I think the future of education in general is very bleak. When we have plummeting scores for the PISA exam across the world [1], I fear people will get dumber and dumber.
There will always be those who thrive, but the easier it is to obtain information/knowledge, the less I think people have an incentive to do it. And I don't buy that AI will solve all intellectual jobs anyway.
[1] https://www.dw.com/en/pisa-2026-results-reading-math-scores/...
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PISA exam scores are a lagging indicator with many years of lag. I doubt the reason of that is AI. Mobile phones? Social media? Any other multi causal reason (poor eating, anxiety, low testosterone, whatever), most likely, but not AI.
> When we have plummeting scores for the PISA exam across the world...
COVID generation.
The pandemic was barely 3 years ago, and stretched over 1-3 years depending on where you lived.
It will likely have a material impact on most developmental statistics for another decade.
The pitch is learning useful things (if not skills) but we end up using schools as storage for kids, for indoctrination and as a business model. The ratio gradually changes.
We end up with shit results and where they arent shit students are rushed though as if to prevent them from thinking about the materials.
We have libraries full of unused education formulas. Some 2000 years old. Then there is nutrition, sleep and other work/rest ratios, physical health.
How expect results without learning to teach and learning to learn?
Onto what should one anchor learnings if the suroundings are always the same?
I never hear a word about spaced repetition in school. Its so basic i must conclude they knew nothing about what should have been their area of expertise.
When things get bad enough we will [finally] have reason to improve.
Maybe the great work of Salman Khan is merely a hint?
> However I think the future of education in general is very bleak. When we have plummeting scores for the PISA exam across the world [1], I fear people will get dumber and dumber.
This is exactly what AI companies need, so that's development should be celebrated. There are two paths to capture the value that's currently wasted on paying people:
1. Build a system that's superior to nearly all people.
2. Make people worse, so even an inferior system is superior to them.
Getting AI into the classrooms and degrading the educational system are important for path #2.
It's good not to put all your eggs in one basket, so I'm glad the AI industry is pursuing a multi-pronged strategy against their competitors. Who cares about the waste and destruction for humanity, as long the investors get good returns?