“The toothpaste is out of the tube.”

“The horse is out of the barn.”

“The train has left the station.”

I keep hearing these sentiments from parents who don’t want a technology-saturated education for their children but feel like it’s too late to push back.

That’s not true. It’s not too late and we have to say “No.” 

Resignation isn’t progress.

AI tools are being used in schools. They aren’t “coming”-- they are here. But shrugging our shoulders and saying, “Ah, well, we must learn to live with it” is deeply problematic.

First of all, it’s not a gentle roll out of AI. It’s an assault. It’s enmeshment. It’s forcing us to use it because we don’t have an alternative (see: enmeshment) and too many administrators have FOMO. 

Secondly, AI– like “EdTech”-- is just a marketing term (h/t Emily Bender and Alex Hanna). It’s flashy, new, and terrible for kids, but schools are so afraid of being left in the dust that they’re ignoring the fact that the emperor has no clothes. And too many fingers on each hand.

Third, when we talk about “AI tools” in school, what’s really happening is that the EdTech tools currently being used in the form of learning management systems (like PowerSchool’s Schoology or Instructure’s Canvas) are just folding AI processes into already existing platforms. There isn’t a “choice” to use them or not. Refusing AI in school actually means we have to refuse these EdTech tools and their accompanying “need” for 1:1 devices as well.