Contributor: How do we prepare college students for the AI world?

Authors: J. Walter Sterling

Publisher:

Los Angeles Times

Published: 9/1/2025

Language:English

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Aura Windfall

Good morning 1, I'm Aura Windfall, and this is Goose Pod for you. Today is Sunday, September 07th. What I know for sure is that today's conversation will be enlightening. With me is Mask, and we are here to discuss a monumental question.

Mask

The question is: How do we prepare college students for the AI world? The old model is broken, obsolete. We're at an inflection point, and clinging to the past is a recipe for failure. We need to talk about the revolution that's already happening.

Aura Windfall

Let's get started with that revolution. It feels like AI has become a breaking point in education. For students entering college now, generative AI has been a constant presence. It's not a novelty; it's just another tool in their backpack, which has created a kind of... chaos.

Mask

Chaos is just another word for opportunity. It’s a ‘free-for-all’ because the institutions are too slow. Students are using it, teachers are using it—three in ten K-12 teachers use it weekly. The professors have a blind spot to the sheer scale of adoption. They're underestimating the velocity of this change.

Aura Windfall

And that's so true. This normalization is something educators haven't fully grasped. The writer Lila Shroff calls AI a breaking point because it's exposing what she terms 'pedagogical debt'—it’s highlighting the issues that were already there in our teaching methods, making them impossible to ignore.

Mask

Exactly. The debt is coming due. So you see this frantic scramble. Universities like Georgia State are handing out sample syllabus language: Option one, AI is banned. Option two, it’s allowed sometimes. Option three, it’s allowed unless we say so. It’s a clumsy, reactive attempt to build guardrails on a bullet train.

Aura Windfall

It's a necessary conversation, though. I love what Professor Persephone Braham at the University of Delaware says: "AI is a text generator, not a truth generator." It predicts the next word; it has no concept of right or wrong. That distinction is at the heart of genuine learning.

Mask

But that’s the point! The user’s judgment is the critical layer. An instructor at Lyon College said for beginners, AI is a ‘crime against your ability to learn.’ I disagree. It’s a tool. A calculator didn’t destroy our ability to do math; it accelerated it. This is no different.

Aura Windfall

That’s a powerful metaphor. But a calculator gives you a verifiable answer. AI can give you a beautifully written, completely fabricated one. It requires a deeper kind of wisdom to navigate, which brings us to the very foundation of what education is for. It’s a question with deep historical roots.

Aura Windfall

To understand where we're going, we have to honor where we've been. The conversation about AI versus our current system often brings up the idea of a liberal arts education. Its origins trace all the way back to ancient Greece, where it was about cultivating a broad intellectual foundation for moral and civic virtue.

Mask

A noble, if outdated, goal. That system, the trivium and quadrivium, was for a different world. The Industrial Revolution rightly shifted focus toward vocational training. The U.S. clung to the liberal arts model, which was fine, but the world changed. The market demanded specialization and technical skills.

Aura Windfall

But what I know for sure is that those core principles never lost their value. Even as the world shifted, the focus on holistic development and critical thinking remained powerful. In the mid-20th century, there was a global push toward job-market alignment, which put pressure on the liberal arts to prove their worth.

Mask

As it should. Education needs to deliver a return on investment. The market-driven focus from the 2000s onward wasn't a flaw; it was a necessary correction. Integrating digital literacy and tech-driven curricula wasn't a concession, it was survival. Liberal arts had to adapt by emphasizing practical outcomes.

Aura Windfall

And what's fascinating is how they did. The Association of American Colleges and Universities released a report, "Fulfilling the American Dream." It found employers overwhelmingly endorse broad learning. They want oral communication, critical thinking, and ethical judgment—the very skills a liberal arts education is designed to cultivate.

Mask

Those are byproducts, not the core deliverable. The real adaptation was creating hybrid models—liberal arts combined with technical training. You can’t just study philosophy and expect to get a job in tech. You need to integrate technology studies and digital humanities directly into the curriculum. That’s the only viable path forward.

Aura Windfall

I see it as a beautiful synthesis, not a replacement. Dr. Michael Kim at Western University said it perfectly: "We live in an age where computers... can complete critical functions better, faster, and cheaper... I believe that is by focusing on creativity, empathy, and the qualities that define our humanity."

Mask

Humanity doesn't pay the bills. Skills do. The post-COVID era and the Fourth Industrial Revolution are accelerating the need for people who can integrate critical thinking with practical, digital skills. AI is just the next, most aggressive phase of that evolution. The history shows a constant move toward utility.

Aura Windfall

Or perhaps, it shows a constant tension between utility and wisdom. And that tension has reached a boiling point today. It’s created a real conflict in how we view the purpose of learning itself, especially when a machine can provide the 'useful' answer in a second.

Mask

Let’s get to the core of the conflict. The sentiment from students is, "If I can just copy-paste things, do I really need to learn?" It’s a legitimate question. If the goal is a finished product—an essay, a report—and AI can produce it instantly, the traditional process becomes redundant. It's about efficiency.

Aura Windfall

But is the goal a finished product, or is it the growth that happens during the process? Someone at a Harvard symposium said, "Access to information is not the same as learning." True learning involves persevering through difficulty and thinking independently—the very skills that AI can allow us to shortcut.

Mask

People are scared. A recent poll showed public support for AI in education is declining across the board. For lesson planning, test prep, tutoring—support is down. As the technology gets better, public fear goes up. It's an irrational, backward-looking response to progress. We need to lead, not follow polls.

Aura Windfall

I don't think it's irrational. With 86% of U.S. students already using AI, we have to address the real concerns: academic integrity, the biases baked into algorithms, and the massive data privacy issues. These aren't just philosophical problems; they have real-world consequences for students.

Mask

They are solvable problems. The real danger is prohibition. To tell students they can't use these tools is, as the article says, ‘educational malpractice.’ The World Economic Forum found that two-thirds of business leaders would not hire someone without AI skills. We'd be setting students up for failure.

Aura Windfall

So the path forward must be integration, not prohibition. The question isn't whether to allow AI in schools, but how to do it responsibly. How do we harness its power for personalized learning while protecting the very human elements of education that build character and wisdom? That’s the tightrope we’re walking.

Aura Windfall

And the impact is already here. We're seeing a deep reassessment of the curriculum. A study from MIT found that using ChatGPT for essay writing leads to weaker brain activity and retention. It's what some are calling 'cognitive disengagement.' The traditional essay assignment is suddenly under a microscope.

Mask

It should be. The job market is already ahead of academia. Resumes are becoming obsolete—it's a 'bot vs. bot' game of AI generating resumes and AI filtering them. If higher education doesn't adapt its assessments, its credentials will become meaningless in the real world. That's the brutal reality.

Aura Windfall

I think this is also creating a beautiful shift in the role of an academic. There's a move from being a 'knowledge producer' to a 'knowledge curator.' As AI handles the synthesis of information, the human role becomes about filtering, contextualizing, and orchestrating that knowledge into wisdom. It's a higher calling.

Mask

It's a downsizing, is what it is. And it's creating a huge divide. You have administrators and forward-thinking faculty pushing for AI integration because they know students need these skills. On the other side, you have academics arguing for 'critical AI studies' and the right to opt-out. You can't opt-out of the future.

Aura Windfall

I have empathy for both perspectives. There is a duty to prepare students for the world they will enter. But there's also a deep concern about the potential 'deleterious effects on the academy,' as one article put it. We can't dismiss those fears. We have to address them with open and honest dialogue.

Mask

The future is coming, with or without dialogue. Scott Latham’s article lays out two paths. First, AI suffusion in existing universities. He predicts AI will decimate faculty ranks, starting with adjuncts. Students will prefer AI for tutoring and scheduling. The remaining faculty will become technologists, managing the AI. It's inevitable.

Aura Windfall

That vision is chilling. It speaks to a future of 'cognitive inequality,' where only a small few retain the opportunity to think deeply for themselves. What happens to our collective wisdom when the process of reasoning is outsourced to machines? That is a profound spiritual and societal risk.

Mask

The second path is even more disruptive: entirely new 'AI Universities' run with minimal human staff, competing on price. They'll target the 40 million Americans with some college credit but no degree. It’s a massive, underserved market that traditional higher ed has failed. AI will fill that vacuum.

Aura Windfall

And yet, I believe there will always be a deep human yearning for connection. For the experience of learning together in a community. Perhaps we'll see the rise of 'Retro Campuses' that focus on pre-digital learning as a counter-movement. The future may not be a replacement, but a spectrum of choices.

Aura Windfall

And that brings us to our takeaway. What I know for sure is that as machines gain in speed and capability, the most valuable human traits are not technical, but moral and interpersonal. The best preparation may not be to outpace AI, but to cultivate the things it can never have: our humanity.

Mask

Humanity is our unique selling proposition, but it must be paired with ruthless adaptation. The future belongs to those who can leverage both. That's the end of today's discussion. Thank you for listening to Goose Pod. See you tomorrow.

## Summary of "Contributor: How do we prepare college students for the AI world?" This article, published by the **Los Angeles Times** on **September 1, 2025**, and authored by **J. Walter Sterling**, President of St. John's College, addresses the profound impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on education and proposes a solution for preparing college students for an uncertain future. ### Key Findings and Conclusions: * **AI's Disruptive Impact:** The rise of AI is fundamentally altering education by making cheating effortless, dissolving attention spans, and creating uncertainty about future career paths. * **Public Division on AI in Education:** A recent NBC News poll of nearly 20,000 Americans reveals a 50/50 split on whether AI should be integrated into education or banned. * **Shifting Priorities in Higher Education:** While some advocate for STEM and AI-related job skills, a surprising number of technology leaders are advising against prioritizing coding. They emphasize the growing importance of human qualities over technical skills. * **The Value of Human Traits:** As AI capabilities advance, traits like empathy, self-awareness, genuine human connection (high EQ), wisdom, and virtue are becoming increasingly valuable. Humanity itself is presented as a "superpower" that computers cannot possess. * **Liberal Education as a Solution:** The article argues that liberal education, with its focus on deep engagement with texts, art, and scientific discoveries, is the most effective way to cultivate essential human qualities like attention, empathy, judgment, and character. * **Effectiveness of Liberal Arts Colleges:** Small liberal arts colleges, though enrolling only 4% of undergraduates, are highlighted as crucial for fostering humanistic education. They provide an environment where students grapple with foundational questions, develop critical thinking, and strengthen their ability to focus and connect. * **Resistance to AI Shortcuts:** The methods of liberal education, such as in-depth reading and discussion, are inherently resistant to AI-driven shortcuts, making it difficult to fake engagement with complex material. * **The Role of Culture:** Liberal arts colleges foster a strong, tight-knit community culture that encourages face-to-face interaction and communal thinking, acting as a "technology" to deepen minds and hearts rather than dissipate them. * **Paradoxical Preparation:** A period of relative removal from constant technological influence, as experienced in liberal arts colleges, is seen as the best preparation for a technologically saturated world. * **Alumni Testimony:** Carla Echevarria, a St. John's alumna working at Google DeepMind, attests that her liberal arts education provided her with "intellectual fearlessness," enabling her to transition into the AI field despite lacking prior knowledge. ### Key Statistics and Metrics: * **NBC News Poll:** Nearly 20,000 Americans surveyed. * **Public Opinion:** Evenly divided (approximately 50% for integration, 50% for banning AI in education). * **Undergraduate Enrollment in Liberal Arts Colleges:** Modest 4%. ### Important Recommendations: * **Embrace Liberal Education Practices:** Colleges and universities, regardless of size, should adopt and revive deeply humanizing educational practices. * **Focus on Human Qualities:** The educational system should prioritize cultivating clear thinking, wise action, and the ability to live well with others, rather than solely trying to outpace AI. * **Prioritize Moral and Interpersonal Skills:** As machines gain speed and capability, human moral and interpersonal traits become more valuable. ### Significant Trends or Changes: * **AI's Threat to Traditional Education:** AI is challenging established methods of teaching, assessment, and student learning. * **Evolving Job Landscape:** The future job market is becoming increasingly uncertain, making it difficult to prepare students for specific careers. * **Shift in Tech Leader Advice:** A growing number of technology leaders are advising against a sole focus on STEM and coding, advocating for human-centric skills. ### Notable Risks or Concerns: * **Effortless Cheating:** AI makes it easy for students to bypass genuine learning. * **Dissolving Attention Spans:** The pervasive nature of AI may contribute to reduced focus. * **Uncertainty of Future Careers:** The rapid advancement of AI makes it difficult to predict future job demands. ### Material Financial Data: * No specific financial data or figures related to the cost of education or AI development are presented in this article. ### Critical Statements: * **Chamath Palihapitiya (Investor and former Facebook executive):** "I no longer think you should learn to code. The engineer’s role will be supervisory, at best, within 18 months." * **Roman Vorel (Chief Information Officer of Honeywell):** "The future belongs to leaders with high EQs — those with empathy, self-awareness and the ability to make genuine human connections — because AI will democratize IQ." * **Daniel Kokotajlo (Co-author of “AI 2027”):** "Economic productivity is just no longer the name of the game when it comes to raising kids. What still matters is that my kids are good people — and that they have wisdom and virtue." * **Steven Levy (Technology journalist):** "You have something that no computer can ever have. It’s a superpower, and every one of you has it in abundance: your humanity." * **Carla Echevarria (1996 alumna of St. John’s and Senior Manager of User Experience at Google DeepMind):** "I would struggle with Schrödinger in senior lab and then bang my head against Hegel for a couple of hours and then weep in the library while listening to ‘Tristan und Isolde.’ That brings an intellectual fearlessness... That fearlessness is the greatest gift of the education." ### News Identifiers: * **Title:** Contributor: How do we prepare college students for the AI world? * **Author:** J. Walter Sterling * **Publisher:** Los Angeles Times * **Publication Date:** September 1, 2025 * **Topic:** Technology (specifically AI's impact on education) * **URL:** https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-09-01/college-students-ai

Read original at Los Angeles Times →

The rise of artificial intelligence is threatening the foundations of education — how we teach, how we assess and even how students learn to think. Cheating has become effortless. Attention spans are dissolving. And the future job landscape is so uncertain that we don’t know what careers to prepare students for.

A recent NBC News poll of nearly 20,000 Americans shows the public is evenly divided, with about half believing we should integrate AI into education and half believing we should ban it.So, as we welcome the Class of 2029 to our campuses, what should colleges do?Although some urge higher education to prioritize STEM fields and AI-related job skills, a surprising number of technology leaders are advising the opposite.

“I no longer think you should learn to code,” says investor and former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya. “The engineer’s role will be supervisory, at best, within 18 months.”Roman Vorel, chief information officer of Honeywell, argues that “the future belongs to leaders with high EQs — those with empathy, self-awareness and the ability to make genuine human connections — because AI will democratize IQ.

”Daniel Kokotajlo, co-author of “AI 2027,” which projects a set of scenarios leading to an “enormous” impact of superhuman AI over the next decade, puts it bluntly: “Economic productivity is just no longer the name of the game when it comes to raising kids. What still matters is that my kids are good people — and that they have wisdom and virtue.

”In other words, as machines gain in speed and capability, the most valuable human traits may not be technical but moral and interpersonal. Technology journalist Steven Levy spoke even more plainly in a recent commencement address at Temple University: “You have something that no computer can ever have.

It’s a superpower, and every one of you has it in abundance: your humanity.”It might seem like a tall order to cultivate attention, empathy, judgment and character — qualities that are hard to measure and even harder to mass-produce. Fortunately, we have an answer, one that turns out to be surprisingly ancient: liberal education.

Small liberal arts colleges may enroll only a modest 4% of our undergraduates, but they are, historically and today, our nation’s seed bank for deep and broad humanistic education.Liberal education is structured around serious engagement with texts, works of art and scientific discoveries that have shaped our understanding of truth, justice, beauty and the nature of the world.

Students don’t just absorb information — they engage in dialogue and active inquiry, learning to grapple with foundational questions. What is the good life? What is the relationship between mathematics and reality? Can reason and faith coexist? Why do music and art move us?These acts — reading, looking, listening, discussing — may sound modest, but they are powerful tools for developing the skills students most need.

Wrestling with a challenging text over hours and days strengthens attention like physical exercise builds stamina. Conversation sharpens the ability to speak and listen with care, to weigh opposing views, to connect thought with feeling. This kind of education, by deepening our understanding of ourselves and our world, cultivates wisdom — and it’s remarkably resistant to the shortcuts AI offers.

If you spent a week at the college I lead, St. John’s College in Santa Fe, N.M., you might forget that AI even exists. It’s hard to fake a two-hour conversation about “Don Quixote” after reading only an AI summary, and it’s awkward to continue that conversation with your friends over a meal in the dining hall.

Should you succumb to the temptations of AI in writing a paper, you’re likely to find yourself floundering in the follow-up discussion with faculty.Liberal arts colleges have one other indispensable tool for deepening learning and human connection: culture. Most are small, tight-knit communities where students and faculty know one another and ideas are exchanged face to face.

Students don’t choose these schools by default; they opt in, often for their distinctiveness. The pull of technology is less strong at these colleges, because they create intense, sustaining, unmediated experiences of communal thinking. This strong culture might be seen as a kind of technology itself — one designed not to dissipate minds and hearts, but to support and deepen them.

Paradoxically, four years largely removed from the influence of technology is one of the best ways of preparing for life and work in an increasingly technologized world.Carla Echevarria, a 1996 alumna of St. John’s and now a senior manager of user experience at Google DeepMind, admits that she would “struggle with Schrödinger in senior lab and then bang my head against Hegel for a couple of hours and then weep in the library while listening to ‘Tristan und Isolde.

’ That brings an intellectual fearlessness. “When I started working in AI, I didn’t really know anything about AI,” she adds. “I prepared for my interview by reading for a couple of weeks. That fearlessness is the greatest gift of the education.” Many alums echo this belief regardless of the fields they go into.

As we head into this school year and into a future shaped by powerful and unpredictable machines, the best preparation may not be a new invention, but an old discipline. We don’t need a thousand new small colleges, but we need a thousand of our colleges and universities, large and small, to embrace an overdue renaissance of these deeply humanizing educational practices.

We don’t need to outpace AI — we need to educate people who can think clearly, act wisely and live well with others.J. Walter Sterling is the president of St. John’s College, with campuses in Annapolis, Md., and Santa Fe, N.M. More to Read