The Choice Schools Keep Making About AI

Summary

Friends School Head of School Ivan Johnson argues that schools repeatedly accept technology vendors’ promises over teachers’ practical judgment. He revisits classroom television and MOOCs, which were promoted as cheaper ways to reach more learners but did not replace in-person teaching or universities. He also describes installing touchscreen smart boards despite teachers’ objections; the devices reduced usable whiteboard space, often failed, and were eventually removed. In a second example, his school adopted open gradebooks after teachers warned that constant access would turn grades into an obsessive running total, discourage low-stakes experimentation, increase parent pressure, and contribute to grade inflation. Johnson links those concerns to stress around grades and assessments and to a widening gap between reported grades and standardized-test performance, while presenting these points as his own experience and interpretation. He says the same pattern is now appearing with AI in schools. He is open to AI helping teachers prepare differentiated lessons more efficiently, provided the saved time is returned to students. His central distinction is whether AI expands a teacher’s capacity or takes over decisions about what and how to teach. Systems that reduce adults to monitors or coaches, he argues, risk removing the judgment built from knowing a particular child and class. The article concludes that education remains costly because time, attention, and sustained human relationships cannot be made cheaper through automation without potentially weakening them.