Saturday, November 29, 2025

Fundamental Cognitive Skills in the Age of AI

Colleges Are Preparing to Self-Lobotomize
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careers/colleges-are-preparing-to-self-lobotomize/ar-AA1RnFlY
The skills needed to thrive in an AI world might counterintuitively be exactly those that the liberal arts have long cultivated. Students must be able to ask AI questions, critically analyze its written responses, identify possible weaknesses or inaccuracies, and integrate new information with existing knowledge. The automation of routine cognitive tasks also places greater emphasis on creative human thinking. Students must be able to envision new solutions, make unexpected connections, and judge when a novel concept is likely to be fruitful. Finally, students must be comfortable and adept at grasping new concepts. This requires a flexible intelligence, driven by curiosity.

How to Prepare Your Kids for the A.I. Revolution
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/opinion/ai-parents-children.html

The College Students Who Can’t Do Elementary Math
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-college-students-who-cant-do-elementary-math-2db5e549
Call it vanity grading: Mediocre students now graduate with top GPAs and AP scores, which makes parents feel better about their kids’ public schools and eases political pressures for education reform.



Is AI Enhancing Education or Replacing It?
https://www.chronicle.com/article/is-ai-enhancing-education-or-replacing-it
Technology should facilitate learning, not substitute for it.
 
The AI Takeover of Education Is Just Getting Started
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/teachers-become-ai-super-users-113000837.html

We’re Losing the Plot on AI in Universities
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-07-06/we-re-losing-the-plot-on-ai-in-universities  
Implementing new technology is messy. The most important parts of learning cannot be replaced by a machine.


What Happens After A.I. Destroys College Writing?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/07/07/the-end-of-the-english-paper
The demise of the English paper will end a long intellectual tradition, but it’s also an opportunity to reexamine the purpose of higher education.