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Tutoring company tells parents to save their money and 'use AI instead'

142 points · 233 comments · theanonymousone

  1. upupupandaway · · focus · HN ↗
    A friend of mine put his kid into a school called Alpha [1]. It has no teachers, only guides (?), who are well paid grads but not formally teachers. Kids go in in the morning, do two hours of computer study with an AI program, and the guide only steps in if the kid has a question or doubt the system cannot answer.

    Then there's recess and afternoon is all taken up with "Life Skills" classes such as entrepreneurship and the likes.

    Kids are tested weekly and progress through grades at will. For example, his kid would officially be in 3rd grade, but she's doing 3rd reading, 5th grade math, and 4th grade writing. She can easily test 3rd grade topics now.

    I am ambiguous about this model. Love the "learn as much as you want" even if it means learning 2, 3 grades ahead, but the no-teacher rule and so much computer use seems a little strange. Also if the kid is not extremely self-motivated, they will be left by the side of the road by the school.

    [1] - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;alpha.school&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;alpha.school&#x2F;

    Edit: It&#x27;s 40k a year.

    1. tmpz22 · · focus · HN ↗
      AI could either help or ruin American education. But the Department of Education is being shutdown. Many parents are relatively absent. And functionally all tech companies, and especially startups, are rapacious in pursuit of education funding.

      I think the most likely outcome is AI makes American education worse, not because if the technology, but because of the “leaders” building and implementimg it.

      1. dofm · · focus · HN ↗
        Not sure the US Department of Education did much that would influence this either way, except if the AI was being used to correct income-disparity effects on education.

        It doesn&#x27;t mandate curriculums, choose technology, anything like that? Only recommendations.

        They might have been able to monitor its effects but they wouldn&#x27;t have been able to direct its use or non-use; that&#x27;s not what they did.

        Essentially it was&#x2F;is an anti-discrimination organisation, making sure that states gave an education regardless of wealth&#x2F;race&#x2F;status.

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