Ezra Klein

But the teacher who's already managing a classroom of students is now also, in a way, managing a classroom of students helpers, of tutors. I think that would be the kind of vision you would hear from the more AI-pilled among us. Right.

But the teacher who's already managing a classroom of students is now also, in a way, managing a classroom of students helpers, of tutors. I think that would be the kind of vision you would hear from the more AI-pilled among us. Right.

Here's where I actually am. I think we've just been going through a catastrophic experiment with screens and children. And right now, I think we are starting to figure out that this was a bad idea. And schools are banning phones. My sense is that they are not relying very much on laptops and iPads. There's a big vogue for a while of every kid gets their own laptop or tablet.

Here's where I actually am. I think we've just been going through a catastrophic experiment with screens and children. And right now, I think we are starting to figure out that this was a bad idea. And schools are banning phones. My sense is that they are not relying very much on laptops and iPads. There's a big vogue for a while of every kid gets their own laptop or tablet.

I think that's beginning to go away if I'm reading the tea leaves of this right. And so I feel a bit better about that as a parent of young kids. I really feel badly for the parents whose kids have been navigating this over the past 10 or 15, 10 years, let's call it. And right now I see AI coming, and I don't think we understand it at all. I don't think we understand how to teach with it.

I think that's beginning to go away if I'm reading the tea leaves of this right. And so I feel a bit better about that as a parent of young kids. I really feel badly for the parents whose kids have been navigating this over the past 10 or 15, 10 years, let's call it. And right now I see AI coming, and I don't think we understand it at all. I don't think we understand how to teach with it.

I don't think the studies we're doing right now are good studies yet. There are too many other effects we're not going to be measuring. I think there's the sort of narrow thing that a program does and then what it does for a kid to be staring at a screen all the time in a deeper way. I believe human beings are embodied.

I don't think the studies we're doing right now are good studies yet. There are too many other effects we're not going to be measuring. I think there's the sort of narrow thing that a program does and then what it does for a kid to be staring at a screen all the time in a deeper way. I believe human beings are embodied.

And if you made me choose between sending my kids to a school that has no screens at all and one that is trying the latest in AI technology, I would send them to school with no screens at all in a second. But... We're going to be working through this somehow.

And if you made me choose between sending my kids to a school that has no screens at all and one that is trying the latest in AI technology, I would send them to school with no screens at all in a second. But... We're going to be working through this somehow.

And what scares me, putting aside what world my kids graduate into, is them moving into schools at the exact time that they don't know what the hell to do with this technology. And they're about to try a lot of things that don't work and probably try it badly.

And what scares me, putting aside what world my kids graduate into, is them moving into schools at the exact time that they don't know what the hell to do with this technology. And they're about to try a lot of things that don't work and probably try it badly.

And I wonder, as somebody who's tracked this, what you think the lessons of what I consider, at least, the screens and phones debacle of the 2010s or the 2000s have been.

And I wonder, as somebody who's tracked this, what you think the lessons of what I consider, at least, the screens and phones debacle of the 2010s or the 2000s have been.

One thing that worries me is the way in which this might, maybe already has been, widen the inequality between parents who can pay for private schools and parents who can't. And what I mean by that is that private schools can just adapt more quickly. They are not dealing with, they don't have to go through legislatures and have the boards and they're just a little bit more independent.

One thing that worries me is the way in which this might, maybe already has been, widen the inequality between parents who can pay for private schools and parents who can't. And what I mean by that is that private schools can just adapt more quickly. They are not dealing with, they don't have to go through legislatures and have the boards and they're just a little bit more independent.

They can take the screens out, they can put them in, they can limit what comes in. Whereas the public school systems tend to be somewhat more slow moving. I just knew living out in the Bay Area, a lot of tech people who are paying money to send their kids to private schools that had banned the products they made starting many years ago.

They can take the screens out, they can put them in, they can limit what comes in. Whereas the public school systems tend to be somewhat more slow moving. I just knew living out in the Bay Area, a lot of tech people who are paying money to send their kids to private schools that had banned the products they made starting many years ago.

And the rest of everybody were sending them to public schools that had not done that. And when things are very, very fast-moving, being able to be fast-moving is really important. So somebody who cares a lot about public education, what should the orientation of the public schools be? How do they sort of not seem to parents who think there's something that their kids should be getting out of this?

And the rest of everybody were sending them to public schools that had not done that. And when things are very, very fast-moving, being able to be fast-moving is really important. So somebody who cares a lot about public education, what should the orientation of the public schools be? How do they sort of not seem to parents who think there's something that their kids should be getting out of this?