I’m curious about people’s standpoint on the value of traditional private education in the face of AI. My husband and I are “smart kids” - both PhDs and good careers. We have 3 kids who are all extremely intelligent. they are 8, 10, and 12. We live in MA in a very good public school district (which we pay through the nose for in property taxes!) My 6th grader is finding middle school to be painfully unchallenging, so we have looked into private schools and found the one we are most likely sending her to next year. It’s $34k/year and we don’t qualify for financial aid (which is painful because we are financially secure but live relatively modestly and certainly don’t have an extra $34k laying around every year.) Our 10 year old will go when he hits 6th grade, and our 8 year old will probably go to private when she hits high school. We’re thinking about it all in terms of what’s the best environment for them as people, but also about what school will set them up best for college. Needless to say, this is all going to be insanely expensive and will completely restructure how we live. I’m fine with that if it sets them up to be confident whole people and prepared for whatever they want to do in life. And yes, our public schools are ranked very highly, but what my kids need to be challenged is very far outside what they can provide. We’ve had wonderful elementary teachers who try very hard, but the public school system is just not set up for outliers, which my kids are. But then I start worrying with AI, is there any advantage to being a “smart kid” and having a degree from a top college? My 12 year old wants to be an architect. Will there even be architects anymore? Are they better off going to trade school and becoming plumbers? And BTW I don’t mean that in a flip or derogatory way - I legitimately don’t know if trades are going to be the only viable professions anymore, and I think trades are fantastic careers. If I do a thought exercise and pretend AI isn’t happening, I feel really good about what we’re planning. But when I factor in the changes AI will potentially bring, I wonder if we are approaching this all wrong. And I should say, I firmly believe in education for the sake of learning critical thinking and all those kinds of skills that you just need to be a whole person and positive contributor to the world. And I supplement the heck out of their education right now, at home. But does our plan just throw money at a system whose value is evaporating? I’m very curious to hear what people who think about AI a lot have to say. Thanks! submitted by /u/Half_Half4677
Originally posted by u/Half_Half4677 on r/ArtificialInteligence