Mission & Academics Blog
Learning Is Not Artificial
Like everywhere else, Brookfield Academy administrators and teachers are wrestling with what to make of the advent of Artificial Intelligence. Seemingly overnight, reports and news stories about AI fill our devices and alternately tell us of wonderful new advancements or of future catastrophes. How is Brookfield Academy dealing with the AI revolution?
When it comes to introducing new technology into the classroom, BA has a long tradition of “thoughtful hesitancy.” We value tradition and the classical ways of learning. We do not place novelty and change at the top of our hierarchy. We know that wholesale adoption of the newest trend or latest technology has led to bad outcomes in schools time and again. At the same time, Brookfield Academy’s staff has always explored and assessed new technologies and pedagogies, remaining flexible and open to change. Being independent, not beholden to the state or other institutions, allows the school to examine options carefully, change rapidly when necessary, and retain connections with traditional practices.
Over the past two years, BA teachers and administrators have studied what the increasing availability of AI tools to students means for education. This past May, the entire faculty attended a day-long session exploring what AI means to teaching and learning, led by Dr. Tony Frontier, author of AI with Intention. Teachers from all Divisions attended workshops over the summer months and recommended policies and practices to the administration team. Academic departments have met to discuss opportunities and challenges that AI brings to their field. Each Division has explored age-appropriate responses to the new technology. Further, each teacher is studying AI tools and considering their impact on teaching practice and expectations for students.
This thoughtful consideration continues, but by focusing clearly on our Mission, we have drawn some thoughtful conclusions. Our Mission is to help children develop the capacity to think and develop the skills and values necessary to be responsible, constructive, free people. In many ways, ungoverned access to AI tools challenges that Mission. Beyond profit, technology companies aim to make tasks easier and less demanding. Their focus is on productivity, so the only attention paid to process is making it as frictionless and effortless as possible.
Teachers, on the other hand, focus on the child’s developing mind. Tests, quizzes, recitations, essays, worksheets, and other “product” are important only insofar as they help children grow their intellect. Producing “A+” work is not the goal; producing “A+” minds is. BA teachers know the mind is like a muscle: it needs challenge and exercise to grow. Just as using a robot to lift weights or run will not make anyone a stronger athlete, using robots to plan and write essays or do mathematics problems will not make anyone a stronger student.
Thus, Brookfield Academy’s teachers require students to engage in the very struggle that nascent AI tools try to eliminate. Athletes are told that “no pain means no gain” as they train. And each training session helps them build strength and agility. Likewise, Academy teachers carefully teach students that they must do the tough work of researching, planning, writing essays, and solving problems themselves. Turning to a machine to avoid intellectual challenge blocks growth and learning.
Teachers at Brookfield Academy are passionate about their work and genuinely care about children and the school’s Mission. They know that AI threatens learning, not because it is inherently bad, but because it is designed to eliminate the mental exercise that builds the mind.
How is Brookfield Academy dealing with the AI revolution?
The same way we have always approached education: keeping the needs of the developing child at the center of our attention and focusing on our Mission. That approach has worked in the past, and we know it will allow us to navigate the new world of AI.
