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Posted on 08/27/2025 7:19:08 AM PDT by karpov
Virtually every observer of American higher education agrees that it is in trouble, and most think the short to midterm future for universities is pretty bleak. Most emphasize growing disenchantment with the academy on the part of governmental funders, most conspicuously the Trump-era federal government. Still others point to both the enrollment decline of the past 15 years along with the shrinking supply of college-age Americans in coming years because of declining fertility rates.
Another factor arising that could be both a threat and an opportunity for colleges is artificial intelligence (AI). Will it magnify higher education’s troubles or help foster a period of expansion and prosperity?
Warning: I am an economist, and my profession’s record at forecasting future events is pretty dismal. An early economist, T.R. Malthus, in 1798 predicted a coming era of extreme poverty and near starvation, whereupon Britain then had the longest sustained period of rapid economic growth the world had ever seen. In the early 1940s, many prominent Keynesian economists predicted a resumption of the Great Depression at World War II’s end: It never came.
So let me hedge my bets by offering both a pessimistic and an optimist take on the possible impact of AI on higher education’s future.
During the first great Industrial Revolution, beginning in Great Britain around 1750, new technological advances increased incomes and jobs for most people, but there were some losers, too. Most famously, in the cotton textile industry the invention of machine-based technology to spin and weave cloth (i.e., the spinning jenny and power loom) meant some home-based spinners and weavers lost their jobs to new factory-based workers operating much more productive machines. The losers were often illiterate or marginally educated, while the more educated classes generally participated in the growing income arising out of increased production.
(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...
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Education is already run by sociopaths. Now you can add a computer generated sociopath called AI to the crowd.
While the truly innovative workers will still thrive, perhaps using AI as one tool. For example, the software team I was part of that kept getting contracts because other programmers said they couldn't make the software, would probably be fine in the world of AI.
Once upon a time, education was about Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. With some other stuff, including practical skills like wood shop or home economics. None of these areas as “fuzzy” or “political”. AI is not likely to go bonkers and tell you that 2+2 is 5, or that the past particle of “run” is “runs”.
I think home schooling with AI and other tools will get kids knowing how to read good books, write well with proper grammar, and handle math up to calculus. I do not see “faulty AI” screwing up such topics.
At that point, most young people should go get apprenticeships or positions that provide On The Job training.
The number of people who ought to go to college is very small. Doctors, Engineers, a few other professions. And the classes should be taught by Doctors and Engineers.
We need to radically re-think education for young people (basic subjects taught with AI support) and also education for some actual “”professionals”. But I think our existing education model needs to be tossed out the window entirely.
I screwed up “past participle”.
Why not just ask Grok?
MIT video recorded all of its classes in the nineties and 00s to put on line. That is changing higher education.
There are satellites of most high end schools in many cities now. A university education is going to be a very different animal. More like commuter education
MIT video recorded all of its classes in the nineties and 00s to put on line. That is changing higher education.
There are satellites of most high end schools in many cities now. A university education is going to be a very different animal. More like commuter education
I think people will need to monetize themselves (create a job/svc/product that brings them funds for living). This can be done using AI. If training departments in corporations are facing obliteration (they are)...so are brick & mortar universities, except for specialties like doctors. Designing an AI curriculum will be key, imho.
Maybe it will kill it.
First of all, you're talking about medical school, law school, or specialized scientific training, not college.
College should not be job training.
College should make you aware of the wisdom of previous generations through a study of The Great Books.
That knowledge is lasting and will serve you a lifetime.
If I had to sum up my thinking in one point I would say this:
People go to college to become aware of the wisdom of previous generations — and the professors tell them: “Karl Marx was right about everything. That’s all you need to know.”
My undergrad degree is in History. I went to college a long time ago, and it was all indoctrination. It’s nice to think that kids will learn “wisdom”. But I think the odds are against it.
High School — good place to learn basic skills
Job — good place to learn how to earn a living
Free time at home — good place to read great books
You want to be a professional? If you are one of the few, I guess you could give college a shot — but avoid any professor with an “education” degree. Make sure they are a real expert in the professional area you are studying.
Trade schools are the ticket... if done properly... meaning emphasis on actual hands-on learning solving real world problems... not some crappy online junk.
“College should make you aware of the wisdom of previous generations through a study of The Great Books.
That knowledge is lasting and will serve you a lifetime.”
I went to college to learn engineering. Skills that seved me well over my lifetime.
Thank goodness they didn’t waste my time with the Great Books.
“You want to be a professional? If you are one of the few, I guess you could give college a shot — but avoid any professor with an “education” degree. Make sure they are a real expert in the professional area you are studying.”
Professors with education degrees don’t teach in th9se professions.
“Trade schools are the ticket... if done properly... meaning emphasis on actual hands-on learning solving real world problems... not some crappy online junk.”
I am pretty proficient with my hands but that crappy online junk often helps me out!
“You want to be a professional? If you are one of the few, I guess you could give college a shot “
You guess?
Your loss.
“Your loss.”
My gain.
Really.... I shall be a bit more precise.... when techs turned instructors have spent years in the real world, diagnosing/repairing real world problems impart their well-earned knowledge/expertise to the next generation only to be “replaced” by online learning modules sourced from overseas... you’ve left the reservation.... so to speak. It’s a great disservice to the student on multiple levels.
That’s not to say that I haven’t partaken from time to time in other formats to increase my personal knowledge-base in other fields of interest.... once you sort through the half-azzedness and BS.
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