~ Guest OP-ED ~ Should schools stay independent of the technology industry?

By Shaleen Title

Imagine you’re a technology company that just created an AI chatbot. No one really wants to use it, but you’ve made massive investments into it, so you desperately want a new future where everyone depends on your product for work, entertainment, and even love.

What would be the quickest way to bring about that future? Force every student in public schools to use your AI chatbot. After all, marketing to young children is the best way to get a lifetime of loyalty for a corporation. It’s the holy grail. If schools teach children to start chatting with a magical-seeming box – instead of learning to solve their own problem or find their own answer – of course those children will grow up depending on that box to function.

Many schools are starting to go down just this path. In an age of unprecedented financial challenges for schools, some districts nationwide are unfortunately choosing to replace teachers and tutors with untested chatbots full of biases and inaccuracies, despite the clear risks.

Will Malden do the same? You have an opportunity to weigh in. Next Tuesday, the Malden Superintendent of Schools will hold a community meeting to hear from caregivers about AI and learning. The community meeting will be held 6:00-7:30 p.m. on October 21 at the Beebe School. If you can’t make that date, a virtual forum will be held from 6:00-7:30 p.m. on October 27. The details were sent to caregivers on October 1 via ParentSquare.

Schools should stay independent of the technology industry. There is a role for technology in school; we should investigate the efficacy of all kinds of tools for learning and adopt them in classrooms once scientific evidence supports their effectiveness. But the job of technology companies is to make a profit for their investors, not to help students learn. This is why learning decisions should remain with our community and teachers, not be outsourced to technology companies.

The key here is for all of us to become more educated and AI-literate. Research shows that people who understand AI less are more open to using it. On the other hand, those who understand how AI works can see that while there may eventually be a place for it in schools, it won’t magically prepare students for the future. Technology companies often make up myths about their products because they seek to advertise in schools, collect and monetize private data, and hook kids into becoming loyal consumers who won’t question their products.

There is a trend here that originated with the use of Google Chromebooks. Do you ever wish you had more of an understanding of why classroom activity moved so suddenly and dramatically to take place on Chromebooks, how that decision was made, and how we are evaluating whether it was a sound decision for learning? Next Tuesday is your chance to make sure we do better this time.

Shaleen Title is an educator and parent who is part of the community group Reconnect Malden (www.reconnectmalden.com), which meets monthly at St. Paul’s Parish.