Letters to the Editor: AI is already here. Educators need a nuanced, practical approach

To the editor: Guest contributor Mark Shpall draws the conclusion that it’s a disservice to students for parents to run interference to such an extent that it deprives the children of the opportunity to build grit and resilience in the face of failure, and that argument has merit (“AI, like a hovering parent, protects students from the failures they need,” July 16). But Shpall goes on to incorrectly conclude that using AI will inhibit the growth of the very qualities he believes students must develop, such as “adaptability, creativity and emotional fortitude.”

In fact, though AI is a readily available fall guy, I suggest that we would be better served to consider our existing education systems’ response to the technology (or lack thereof). That needs changing. Students are using AI and educators must teach them how to do so in an ethical, responsible and effective manner.

A more nuanced, immediate and practical approach to the industrial revolution of our time is essential, or we will continue to shortchange our children.

Ivy Leibowitz, New York City
This writer is the founder of Word Spring, an educational consulting firm dedicated to teaching students to harness AI in their thinking and writing.

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To the editor: If I were a school administrator, I’d require teachers, parents and students to read and mull over Shpall’s wise op-ed.

As a retired teacher, I have observed the diminution of a love of learning and its humanizing and transformative power, as well as its vital place in the formation of character and a virtuous life. It’s been chipped away by coddling, excessive focus on students’ psychological-emotional well-being, obsession with grades (often inflated) and capitulation to intrusive and threatening parental behavior — and now, AI.

A teacher who loves his or her students cultivates not only a love of learning, but also a love for discipline, responsibility and perseverance through discouragement and failure, essential for growth. That comes along with a recognition of the beauty of well-deserved achievement through one’s own hard work.

In our lives, such teachers are those we remember with gratitude — and a smile on our faces.

Craig M. Butters, San Clemente