🐴 A Stanford student's take on AI vs. Professors (#122)

If you enjoy this edition, forward this email to a friend! First time reading? Subscribe and learn more at OpenEd.co.

💡 THOUGHT

AI vs. Professors: A Stanford Freshman’s Take

A Stanford freshman who writes under the name “Austin Scholar” just made a surprisingly persuasive case that AI and adaptive learning apps are better at teaching than her elite university instructors. Why? She offers a few reasons:

• A professor can't rewind and repeat

• A professor can have a bad day, make mistakes, or play favorites

And perhaps most important:

• A professor can't adapt to 30 different learning speeds simultaneously

What would happen if we freed the world’s most brilliant professors from daily lectures, and let them use that time for expanded office hours, Socratic discussions, and the like?

No, teachers aren’t going away. But their job might be changing.

📊 TREND

The Math Crisis

The real issue isn't that students are "failing" to hit arbitrary grade-level benchmarks. It's that our one-size-fits-all approach forces everyone to move at the same pace, regardless of their learning journey.

Math is like building with blocks – miss one foundation piece, and everything above it gets shaky. Yet our system pushes students forward regardless, turning small gaps into insurmountable obstacles.

🛠️ TOOL

The 2-Hour Learning Revolution

Speaking of Austin Scholar (and Stanford), she credits her academic success to Alpha Schools, founded by Stanford mom MacKenzie Price after her own kids complained about boring school days. In the Alpha model, students finish core academics by 10 am using adaptive, AI-powered tools, then spend afternoons on passion projects and real-world skills. Adults serve as guides rather than traditional teachers.

Alpha touts their average test scores (top 1-2% nationally), but we’re more impressed by how they generate genuine excitement about learning. Alpha is expanding in Miami, Austin, and Brownsville, TX, with more planned locations in Arizona, California, and Florida.

Follow @futureof_education for a behind-the-scenes look at how they're making it work.

(WORD) OF THE DAY

alpha (al·fa) noun

From the Greek letter Α, this word has evolved from "first letter" to:

• A leader or dominant force

• The first version of something new

• A measure of outperforming the standard

Fitting that Alpha Schools are doing all three: leading education innovation, pioneering a new model, and helping students outperform national averages – all in just 2 hours a day.

That’s all for today!

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

P.S. If you’d prefer to just receive the weekly edition, you can change your subscription settings here.