Tech Explained: Artificial Intelligence: Reality Versus Hype (Opinion) in Simple Terms

To the Editor:

Alfie Kohn’s opinion essay, “AI in the Classroom Is Often Harmful. Why Are Educators Falling Prey to the Hype?” (Sept. 22, 2025) is one of the more inspiring articles I’ve read in some time. It reassures me that I am not alone in questioning the value of so-called “artificial intelligence” in the classroom. From Socrates to John Dewey, John Taylor Gatto, Jonathan Kozol, and more, great teachers have called on us to learn to think and act for ourselves. AI is the opposite of that. Spoon-fed answers that are often wrong, biased, or gibberish do not educate people. Allowing AI in the classroom is tantamount to professional malpractice. However, this is only the beginning of the conversation that we need to have about integrating corporate-supplied technology into schools in general.

I am fortunate that I teach art and my classroom is generally free of computers (and thus AI). My students get to think and act on their own as they create beauty and give meaning to the work of their hands. Still, too often, students in my class ask if they can get their Chromebooks “to look up something.”

Our schools have led many students to believe that they can fully trust school-issued technology without the worry of being profiled, tracked, and analyzed by data aggregators in the public and private sectors. AI is a deeper manifestation of the pernicious trend to let technology co-opt human agency—in this case by handing over our ability to think and learn for ourselves. We now face the prospect of schools tempting children to believe that chatbots are intelligent, friendly, and trustworthy rather than something to question. Education is about teaching students the skills to learn and decide on their own. Letting AI do these things for them just makes our youth servants to the all-knowing machine.

Thanks to Alfie Kohn for highlighting what is at stake.

Lloyd Conway
K-8 Art Teacher
Lansing, Mich.