In the modern world, education is commonly associated with the public school system. This system, developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, was intended to provide a general education for all citizens, regardless of class, wealth, or ability. The aim was not to cultivate intellectual excellence or develop philosophical minds, but to ensure that all citizens would be able to read, write, and perform basic calculations, while learning to function productively in democratic society. From its beginning, the structure of public schooling placed limits on how much education could be offered, because it was built on the principle of universal accessibility. Therefore, its standards were set low enough that all children could be accommodated.
This effort to provide minimal education for all did not result in a uniformly educated population. It resulted in a diluted understanding of what education should be. The purpose of schooling was gradually reduced to producing compliant employees, rather than creative and agile problem-solvers. The classical liberal arts, which had provide the substance of learning for centuries, was removed from the curriculum. Latin and Greek were replaced by workplace English. Logic, Rhetoric, and classical literature were considered unnecessary or impractical. Philosophy and Theology were removed in the interest of secular neutrality. The great works of history, science, and mathematics were replaced with simplified textbooks and worksheets. Over time, what remained was a system that rewarded attendance and compliance with procedures, rather than intellectual development.
By the middle of the 20th century, modern schooling had become the norm. Yet even as access to schools increased, the depth of learning declined. Few students learned to write clearly or argue effectively. Few studied mathematics beyond Algebra–and even fewer understood why they were doing so. Few read classical texts in any form. Fewer still studied the sciences according to their foundational principles. The study of the liberal arts had nearly vanished. Education was no longer understood as the cultivation of the human soul according to reason, but as a process of career preparation. The system achieved uniformity, but at the cost of substance.
Modern schools have not been abandoned, but the results they produce are evident to all. Students graduate from high school and even college unable to explain what they have learned in any meaningful way. They complete courses and pass tests, but they retain little of value. They cannot explain the reasoning behind mathematical operations. They cannot speak or write with clarity. They cannot define the terms of philosophical or religious questions. They are not prepared for serious study, but are qualified to enter the workforce and follow instructions–assuming that someone else is creating jobs for them. The schools are not failing to meet their standards. The standards themselves are unworth of human education.
In recent decades, the rapid development of technology has introduced new challenges to this low-achieving modern school culture. Tools such as personal computers, calculators, and internet access have made information more accessible. More recently, the development of artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, has raised new questions about the purpose of student work. These tools are able to do all of the work that has become normal in modern schools. Many teachers now worry that students will use such tools to “cheat” on assignments, avoiding the work that would have been required in the past.
This concern, however, reveals a more serious problem. If students are able to complete their assignments with these tools, it may be the case that the assignments do not require real human work. If a chatbot can write a paper that satisfies the standards of an assignment, then the standard for the assignment may have been less than educational. The issue is not that students are misusing technology, or that technology is threatening human learning, but that the work that schools have required of students is shallow and mechanical. In such cases, the use of AI tools does not represent a moral failure on the part of students. It reveals a deeper problem in the quality of instruction and assessment in the schools.
The ability of technology to complete common academic tasks demonstrates how routine and superficial these tasks have become. If the system challenged students and demanded that they study, develop arguments, and demonstrate understanding of complex ideas, then the work would not be easily replaced by a machine or software application. That the work of schools can be replaced shows that much of the work being done has had no real intellectual substance. Students have been doing work that can be performed by machines because the schools have not been serving the intellectual needs of the students.
Teachers today are not prepared to adapt to this situation. They’re trapped. Many have not received a real education themselves and are not equipped to require anything more of their students than they are currently requiring. They rely on established study materials, lesson plans and assessment methods because they have been trained to serve as agents of the modern school system. They may assign writing assignments, but they don’t teach the principles of logic or rhetoric to their students. The writing assignments are shallow. They may assign reading but they do not challenge students with assessments that require real comprehension, reflection and application. They may use standard assessments and grading rubrics, but they do not know how to evaluate complex skills like argumentation or arrangement. When students produce writing with the help of AI tools, the teachers may feel that the learning process has been undermined, but in truth, there was no learning process in the first place. The tools have only revealed the problem of modern education. The modern tools have shown that schools have not been leading students to fulfill their human potential, but have been moving them along like products on an assembly line. If these goals will not change, these systems of education no longer serve any purpose and these students will not be able to compete with the machines who can do the work of machines better than humans can.
The common criticism of technology is therefore misdirected and should embarrass those responsible for it. The technology isn’t to blame. It doesn’t determine the value of the work that’s produced. It only serves the standards of those who use it. In a system where students are asked to repeat basic information or simulate understanding, the tools will fulfill these expectations efficiently. But if students are asked to judge, reason, interpret, expound, apply and so on, the tools will not be sufficient. The problem is not the proliferation of technology, but the absence of real learning goals. Modern education has been exposed for what it is and has been: a rip-off.
In the past, students works without the help of these modern tools. They read from studied the works of history’s wisest and best men. They memorized principles that could be applied in unpredictable new circumstances. Today, students have access to vast digital libraries, online lectures, video tutorials, and AI-powered tools. If these tools were used in the service of rising academic standards, students could achieve even greater results than in the past. The tools do not eliminate the need for work. They take from men the simple tasks and free them to pursue greater challenges. Students today are not excused from labor because they have technology. They must be challenged to serve higher standard; standards which are appropriate for their generation.
The Classical Liberal Arts Academy is working to meet this challenge. We do not propose any modifications to modern schools. We propose the abandonment of them because they re obsolete and in the way of student progress. The challenge is to put technology to work to take from us as many simple, mechanical tasks as possible and then devote ourselves to new standards of learning that push us to our limits. These standards are not to be sought in new theories or experiments, but in the classical liberal arts, in classical philosophy, in Scholastic theology, in the Humanities. We must delegate modern mechanical tasks to mindless machines as ancient mechanical tasks were delegated to work animals. We cannot continue to pretend that all can be educated or that all wish to learn–they don’t. These people are the ones whom machines are going to force into a very difficult place in the modern world and there’s not much we can do for them. We certainly can’t allow them to determine what the standards will be for modern studies. We must return to real learning and it will be a private, individual pursuit, which modern technology make possible for us. We have all the tools and resources and we must exhaust them.
The Classical Liberal Arts Academy does not reject modern tools. It works to bring them into the service of the higher arts. Students must accept the challenge to set their aim on educational goals worthy of their capabilities and they must learn to make use of all available technology to maximize their intellectual achievements. Many of the academic tasks of past generations are unnecessary but the essential work of any real learning is the same. That must be the focus of education in the future. It is, after all, the only proper focus of human learning.
The model of education we must employ is not unknown or experimental. It is proven and timeless. We should not be distracted by irrelevant accidents of schools of the past–the buildings, the desks, the chalkboard, the activities, etc.–but focus on the essentials of classical Catholic education. We must regain the knowledge of the universal principles that we may begin to apply them in new ways to serve more complex problems in modern society. Only the ancient arts and sciences will allow us to do this.
Modern schooling will continue to decline in both credibility and effectiveness. It is obsolete and is being kept alive to serve secondary purposes like childcare and extracurricular activities, and is funded artificially by wasteful government programs. Artificial intelligence will become more capable and more accessible, only increasing the embarrassment for schools and teachers who will have no option but to ban it–while preaching to students the value of the math and science curriculum the schools were organized to serve–a giant institutional contradiction. The problem, however, will not be solved. The only solution is the restoration of real learning, directed to man’s true end. Anything less will not be able to survive.
The Classical Liberal Arts Academy is developing this solution. We embrace the technology. We employ the tools. We invite students to use them. At the same time, we are raising the expectations and demanding that modern students answer the challenge of machines and algorithms by cultivating and perfecting the powers that man-made technology can imitate but never match. As in history, few will be up to this challenge, but those few will be great.
“They that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.” (Daniel 12:3)
Mr. Wiliam C. Michael, O.P.
Headmaster
Classical Liberal Arts Academy
