As AI continues to increase in influence and power, I hope we will keep asking ourselves what is irreplaceable and invaluable in education. Katie Cannon once wrote an essay on womanist mentoring that framed the purpose of teaching and mentoring as discovering “the work your soul must have.”
Why even teach the next generation amid the assault on public schools and the transformation of institutions of higher learning? Dr. Cannon’s answer, “If we want to be whole, it is essential for us to realize we are morally bound to resist oppression, to oppose authorities, to disobey immoral laws, to challenge lies that rob us of our divine birthright and God-given dignity” (Mentoring: Biblical, Theological, and Practical Perspectives, 124). Education equips us to resist fragmentation and claim our whole selves.
Early Sunday morning, I began scrolling the internet on my phone to catch up with the headlines. An article on the future of education drew me in. It told the story of Alpha, a private school in Austin, Texas that relies on AI-driven software to educate students. Students spend about two hours a day on subjects such as reading and math. There are no teachers. Adult “guides” help students develop skills such as public speaking and financial literacy. My heart sank.
As an educator, I am not opposed to the use of technology in the classroom or AI. I advocated for teaching the first theology classes online when I taught at a university, as it provided access to education for people living in remote areas in Kentucky. It was about justice for me. Technology is a tremendous resource. Some of my current students use AI to enhance amazing projects that they produce in classes. Still, I am a survivor of the recent transformation of higher education, which continues to prioritize skill development for today’s job market and to withdraw investment in the humanities and anti-racism work.
Our society is losing its grasp of the meaning and purpose of education. All too often, we make the mistake of thinking that subjects, disciplines, and skill development are the heart of education. When education is ultimately about what bell hooks called “the practice of freedom.” Practicing freedom places relationships, an analysis of power, liberation, and finding one’s voice at the center of education.
When I moved to Union Presbyterian Seminary from a university two years ago, I took the chance to digitize all of my files. I reviewed notes from various projects that I had been engaged in. Most notably, the classes that I had taken in college and graduate school. I remembered Fred Spletstoser, a history professor at William Jewell College, who was the first to encourage me to research neglected women figures who shaped U.S. history. He saw what I needed to inspire me to do my best work. Johanna WH van Wijk-Bos presented the Hebrew bible with such careful analysis and detail that notes from her class remain relevant today. She also gave Lee and me a handmade cookbook with pencil drawings, including her wisdom and cherished recipes, when we married. Amy Plantinga Pauw taught Reformed feminist ethics and occasionally spoke about volunteering to read to kids in the public schools as a way of encouraging others to do so. Katie Geneva Cannon defined hospitality. Knowing how nervous graduate students may be when they attend professional society meetings for the first time, Dr. Cannon always made sure to speak to me at the Society of Christian Ethics. She sat by Lee when I defended my dissertation and sensed his nervousness on my behalf, assuring him that all would be well.
I could mention many more professors and mentors who put relationships with and between people and the planet at the center of the educational enterprise. Their lives became for me the primary text. I remember a lot about what they taught, but much more about how they acted. Their actions communicated their values and the importance of interrelatedness.
What do you think is irreplaceable and invaluable in your experience of education? Your major? All of the books you had to read to earn a diploma or degree? Friendships? A mentor who continued to follow you over the years?
When AI can be used as a tool to enable us to discover “the work our soul must have,” resist fragmentation, and claim our whole selves then it is a powerful resource. But, that will call us to keep what is irreplaceable and invaluable in education at the center of our approach to the use of AI and understanding of the meaning and purpose of education.
Many of the guidelines for ethical use reflect the dominant values of the U.S. and other countries in the Global North. You may be interested in Soraj Honladarom’s take on “What Buddhism Can Do for A.I. Ethics.”
Creating Cultural Shifts 