I would be genuinely interested on a conversation around AI in education. Teaching during this time has made me really start to consider what the purpose of education is and how we ought best to be assessing students. It does seem like most students do not want to go through the difficult process of learning to thing. And then I start to wonder if they can live quite enjoyable lives without having to think.
Discussion
There's an adage, "college is the only thing you hope to get less of than you paid for"
True.
I have been thinking a lot about whether colleges and universities should go away completely. In my work, I get to see people truly transform and grow at university, but then others simply languish. I frequently try to talk students out of university for their own good. Very few opt out.
I think moving towards smaller class sizes and direct interaction with the teacher is where the value is going, both in terms of imparting information and forming character. It will make education more expensive, but also incredibly engaging and valuable. Sufficient social pressure can help overcome the laziness of students. I say this as someone who benefited from exactly these things in college, and probably wouldn't have done well at a state school.
I think class size is critical and then moving toward more and more recitation and away from lecture. Right now I am teaching 60 students in Environmental Science, it is far too many. Last term Chemistry with 20 students was pretty great. The discussions in a class of 20 were noticeably better.