Are we teaching the fundamentals first?

There have been a few things that have caught my attention this week:

The University of Sydney staff strike over concerns about AI.

The declining literacy results in schools.

Students I teach who have told me that they don't like reading.

And the growing ability to recognise what people are calling “AI slop” — content that looks polished but feels generic.

Professor Leslie Loble from the University of Sydney was interviewed by SBS News about AI and education.

Around the 1:40 mark, she was asked what critical skills young people need right now.

Her answer:

Knowledge. Critical thinking. Self-regulation.

🎥 https://lnkd.in/gEpAsYFK

Yes, I completely agree, we still need to learn and think for ourselves.

We need enough knowledge about a subject to form our own opinions about it.

If I don't have the underlying knowledge, how do I know whether an AI answer is good?

If I don't have strong literacy skills, how do I properly interrogate what I'm reading?

If I've never had to construct an argument myself, how do I recognise a weak one?

Perhaps this is where they all connect:

When does assistance become dependence?

The biggest shock to me recently has been young students telling me they don't like reading.

Reading isn't just a school skill.

It is a fundamental life skill — one that helps us understand information, form opinions and navigate the world around us.

AI can absolutely help us learn.

But it’s really got me thinking about how it is used within education and how I use it to teach moving forwards.

Are we building the fundamentals first, before introducing AI as a tool?

#BuiltToPivot #LearningAI #Literacy #CriticalThinking #FutureOfLearning