Learning Demands People, Not Programs
Lately, it feels like AI is everywhere in school. From apps that “help” with homework to programs that can seamlessly write essays for you, nowadays you can get through classes without actually learning anything—just a quick copy and paste will get you an A. At first, it felt like its purpose was to be convenient: we've all been there, crunching to complete an essay before it’s due. Why not just use AI? But the more I think about it, the more I realize how much we’re losing when we let AI intervene in our education.
For one thing, social skills matter. The school is designed for regular social interaction. Working with friends on group projects, talking through ideas in class discussions, or even just joking around with teachers—those are the things that help us figure out how to communicate and collaborate, and who we are as people. AI can’t teach you how to argue respectfully, compromise, or handle disagreements. It’s too clean. Those real-life skills are built in messy, human ways, and they will slowly disappear if we rely too much on machines to solve our problems for us.
What else matters? Personal perspectives. Every teacher and classmate brings their own experiences into the classroom. AI can spit out facts, but it can’t tell stories from its own life, explain things in its own unique words, or share perspectives from different cultures. When lessons lose those human elements, school feels empty—like we’re just memorizing facts for the sake of memorizing them. AI eliminates the personal and vulnerable perspectives that help us understand how things connect to the real world. It also takes away the personality in school. I still think abot my teachers throughout the years, and it is no coincidence that I also learned the most in their classes. The personal relationships built through school are just as important as the material being taught. We can't afford either to be replaced without the benefits we reap crumbling.
Then there’s the feeling of trust and belonging, which I think is one of the most important things school gives us. When teachers truly care not just about school work but you as a person, or when you meet peers that you could see yourself being friends with forever, you feel like you’re part of something bigger. It is what makes you want to show up, participate, and push yourself to do more. But when AI starts taking over, those connections weaken. A machine can grade your essay or correct your math, but it can’t personalize advice the way your favorite teacher can.
AI always being correct isn’t good either; over time, students will lose their passion and drive to do better because they know even if they are falling behind, AI can help them appear to be 10 steps ahead. If everything is automatically perfect, nothing is worth it anymore. As AI gains in popularity, we are starting to see how late nights studying and countless hours struggling to understand a concept prove to be the exact things that make us feel accomplished.
At the end of the day, school is more than tests and grades. It’s about learning to be part of a community, figuring out who you are, who you want to be, and connecting with people you never would have met otherwise. AI can be a quick fix to one's history project, but it can’t replace a laugh with a friend, a teacher who understands your motivations, and the way different perspectives can make a lesson come alive. I’m well aware AI is here to stay, but we need to use it as a tool, not a replacement for our own thoughts. If we fail at that, we risk losing the parts of school that actually matter.
