Raising the Bar: How Technology Forces Education to Grow Beyond the Basics

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The Tools We Create Shape the Way We Learn

Since the beginning of human civilization, people have created tools to help them accomplish tasks more efficiently. In farming, the plow changed everything. In navigation, the compass opened the seas. In learning, the alphabet, books, and now digital tools are reshaping education in the same way. As Catholics, we understand that the human mind is a gift from God. We are called to develop and use it rightly. Therefore, we must understand what role these new educational tools play and how they affect both students and teachers.

Technology in education now allows us to automate many basic tasks. Spelling and grammar checkers correct our writing. Calculators solve math problems in seconds. Search engines retrieve facts instantly. These tools, when used rightly, do not make us dumber. They raise the bar in learning. Because we no longer need to spend as much time learning helpful concepts that can be easily retrieved when needed or developing difficult skills that can now be handled by machines, we are free to move on to more noble and advanced forms of learning. As tools become smarter, men must accept the challenge grow smarter too, fulfilling our human potential and doing what machines cannot do.

The Role of Technology in Automating Skills

Imagine a student learning long division in the past. He had to spend hours practicing steps by hand. Today, a calculator can solve the problem instantly. Does that mean students should no longer learn division? No. But it does mean that the time spent on repetitive tasks can now be used for learning why division works, how to apply it in real-world problems, or how it fits into more advanced mathematics. This is the process of educational growth. Basic skills become tools, not ends.

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches in the Summa Theologica that our intellect is moved by forms presented to it, and through these, it arrives at knowledge. If a tool can provide a correct form quickly, we may reach understanding faster. But it must be used to reach truth, not to escape effort. When calculators, grammar checkers, or AI tutors automate the basics, students can be guided toward deeper understanding–if guided by wise teachers.

What Happens When Technology Advances Further

We are now entering a stage where even complex tasks can be done by machines. Artificial intelligence can write essays, solve algebra problems, translate languages, and even tutor students. For many, this is frightening. But it should not be.

Our Lord tells us in the Gospel of Luke: “To whom much is given, much will be required.” If students today are given tools that make learning easier, then more ought to be expected of them. They cannot be allowed to do what past generations did, but must be challenged to do more. They must use their time to go deeper, to explore more, to achieve what older generations could not. This is a blessing and a challenge.

But it also means something uncomfortable for many adults in education. If a tool can teach grammar better than a teacher can, what is the role of the teacher? The answer is simple: the teacher must become better than the tool. Only true experts will remain relevant. Only those who possess true mastery of a subject will be able to lead others forward.

True Experts Are Needed More Than Ever

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explains that a true teacher is one who knows not only that something is so, but why it is so. Anyone can repeat a fact. An expert knows its cause. That kind of knowledge is rare. It is what marks a true teacher and makes such a person irreplaceable.

As technology improves, many average teachers—who have simply relied on textbooks and scripts—will be left behind. They may feel threatened, and rightly so. Some may respond by resisting the use of technology. They may forbid students from using helpful tools. They may insist on doing things “the old fashioned way.” This is not done to help students move forward, but to protect bad teachers.  It is like a carpenter insisting on using a handsaw when a table saw is available. The goal is not to preserve old methods, but to accomplish the work as effectively as possible.

St. Augustine warns us in The City of God about the danger of pride, especially among those in authority. When teachers resist tools that help students learn, they may do so not for truth but for pride or for fear of losing their jobs. This is unjust, yet is very common today.  In many places, we see incompetent teachers, administrators, professors, even whole institutions, forbidding the use of available technology so that they can maintain the old, obsolete and unsustainable status quo.

Setting Aside the Unwilling and Unqualified

Education is too important to be led by those who resist progress. If a teacher cannot teach beyond what a computer can do, then his time as a teacher has come to an end. This is not cruel—it is necessary and just.

In Proverbs, we read: “A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.” Those who resist technology out of fear show that they lack understanding. Those who embrace it, using it to reach deeper knowledge, prove their wisdom and true concern for the good of their students and learning in general. They prove themselves true masters.

The Church has always led the way in education by seeking truth. We must not allow weak instructors to hold back the next generation. Catholic education must be led by domain experts—those who are masters in their fields and can explain provide students more than any tools can. Only then can students be formed in wisdom and truth in a way appropriate for the 21st century.

Free Use of Resources Encourages Mastery

Students must be allowed to make full use of all available tools. This is not cheating and teachers who make rules against it are irrational.  It means recognizing that the goal of learning is mastery and creativity, not imitation.  If a student uses a grammar checker to improve writing, that is not cheating. It is practice. If he uses a calculator to solve a problem, he is being efficient.  Students should be allowed to make use of any resources or tools available to them, and must be taught to credit all of their sources and to take full responsblity whatever answers they present as their own.

St. Thomas explains that virtue is formed by repeated good action. Using a helpful tool to produce good results is part of forming the habit of excellence. If a student uses tools rightly and under guidance, his skills will grow. Only lazy students seek to abuse tools and a master can easily identify them. Wise students, like wise craftsmen, use every good tool to reach their goal and produce work that is better than what could have been done without those tools.

Jesus tells the parable of the talents, in which servants are judged based on how they use what they were given. One buried his talent and was condemned. So too, if students have helpful tools but are forbidden to use them, the talents of our generation are being wasted. If teachers bury those tools out of fear or pride, they act like the wicked servant in the parable.

What Must Catholic Educators Do Now?

Catholic educators must embrace the opportunities provided by modern technology and lead their domains. They must master their own subjects more deeply than ever. They must master the available tools and resources and raise the bar for curriculum goals and standards of student work.  They must work to improve their own mastery and enable their students to advance into the next generation. Experts must be honored. School staff must be reduced in number to essential workers (i.e., true masters). Those who merely “get by” must be humbly set aside. The stakes are too high for mediocrity.

Besides that, they must train students to use tools rightly. The Catechism reminds us that technology is a gift of God’s providence, but that it must be used in the light of moral truth. Catholic schools and programs must teach students how to use technology to seek truth, love the good, and grow in virtue. That is true education.

A Vision for the Future of Catholic Education

In the days ahead, Catholic education can flourish. With the right tools and expert teachers, students can go farther than ever before. They can read the original languages of Scripture in weeks rather than years. They can understand the philosophy and theology, accessing works previous generations had no access to. They can become wise stewards of God’s gifts and direct temporal affairs according to God’s will–which is the mission of the laity.

This will only happen if we stop holding students back. We must let them use the tools for good. We must raise the standards and demand more because simple skills are now automated. We must demand that teachers be true experts and not place-fillers in obsolete and unsustainable schools. These schools, thankfully, will die quickly if those making money from them are not allowed to block the use of technology.

In the Classical Liberal Arts Academy, we will be working to restore and advance classical Catholic learning, and we will seek to exhaust the benefits of the tools and resources available to us.  If we do not, Catholic education may not be able to survive.

Mr. William C. Michael, O.P.
Headmaster
Classical Liberal Arts Academy

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