Analog Studying Prevails

BY ANDREW DAVIS, HEAD OF SCHOOL

“I think it would be cool to try this app for studying. It makes an Instagram-like feed of whatever PDF you upload. Let’s look at it tonight.”

I sent my older son this email shortly after someone suggested yet another AI-powered learning app. He regularly indulges me by serving as my student–AI-study guinea pig.

Studying for a quiz on states and capitals? Let’s run a ChatGPT voice quiz in the car. Preparing for a math test? We’ll have Flint generate practice problems together. And recently, gearing up for his first science test? Naturally, I suggested we let AI do the quizzing.

One of the great things about my 13-year-old guinea pig is that he is wonderfully quick to give negative feedback. It’s a perfect combination: a sharp sense of what actually works and the innate teenage desire to prove that Dad knows absolutely nothing. On the few occasions when my AI-powered techniques have been helpful, he has begrudgingly admitted that I might be onto something.

Two nights before his first science test, I pushed him to use Flint to study. This took real badgering because he immediately countered, “Dad, Toni taught us how to make a mind map, and I really like it!” Then he picked up a long scroll of cardstock and unrolled a two-sided, hand-drawn diagram capturing eight weeks of science lessons. Arrows linked major concepts; small bubbles held essential details.

He told me that by sketching a first draft in pencil and then recopying it in pen and colored markers, he had absorbed the material. But the unfettered AI-for-learning enthusiast in me insisted we make a Flint study guide together. He reluctantly humored me. Thirty minutes later he announced—in no uncertain terms—that he was done. The analog method his teacher taught worked better. I relented. And at his parent-teacher conference, we learned that he had performed well on the test, without any help from AI studying.

I originally set out to write a blog post about the importance of continuing to learn and study with human, analog intelligence. And up until this point, that was my takeaway: yes, AI will reshape learning, and yes, human intelligence remains essential. I’m grateful for Toni and all the other teachers who lead with human wisdom as I explore the possibilities of artificial intelligence.

But as I wrote these paragraphs, I finally recognized something I have spent years advising middle school parents not to do: manage rather than consult. A thirteen-year-old is developmentally wired to fire their parents as “managers.” Our task is to get rehired as “consultants.” My insistence that I had a better studying method? Peak manager behavior. You’d think I would know better.

So yes, human intelligence wins in studying for science. And in my over-involvement in my child’s academics, my humanity—manager-warts and all—is on full display. My one redeeming act? I quickly followed up my email about the social-media-style study tool with, “Never mind. This is a waste of your time.”

Or was that just more manager behavior? I can’t help myself.

TGIAM is the blog of Andrew Davis, Head of School. TGIAM = Thank Goodness It's Almost Monday.