Debate: Should We Embrace AI in Schools?
Two Parents Face Off on the Future of Artificial Intelligence in Education
Handwritten bluebooks are making a comeback - and AI is the reason why. With tools like ChatGPT now a staple in student homework, schools are scrambling to adapt. So far, AI has mostly remained an outside force, reshaping education without being formally invited in. But that may be about to change.
Momentum is building to bring AI into the classroom itself. School districts are exploring AI-integrated lesson plans, and a recent Executive Order from President Donald Trump calls for teaching AI in K–12 schools. Whether that’s progress or a red flag depends on who you ask.
This is the second installment in our ongoing debate series here at The Fatherhood Framework. Two thoughtful voices. Two very different visions for the future of education.
We’re excited to welcome Erin Miller, a writer, parent coach, and former teacher with nearly two decades of classroom experience. She’s the voice behind (un)Popular Parent, where she offers honest, grounded takes on raising kids in a noisy world. And joining her is Yuri Dolzhenko, a software engineer and dad based in Amsterdam, whose Substack The Dad Journal Weekly blends parenting reflections with sharp takes on tech and culture—all with help from his four-year-old son and their Cocker Spaniel, Funtik.
They bring unique perspectives to the table — a former teacher making the case for inviting the world’s most disruptive technology into the classroom, and a tech industry insider urging us to think twice.
Erin goes first. Let’s dive in.
Pretending AI Isn’t Already in the Classroom Isn’t Protection. It’s Abandonment.
By Erin Miller
We’re about to fail the same generation—again. But this time, we can’t blame a pandemic.
We failed the first test.
In March 2020, the world shut down—and classrooms didn’t go quiet. They blew wide open.
One week, I was in the classroom, reminding Timmy (for the hundredth time) not to put a period in the middle of a sentence. The next, I was at home reading “his” writing—full paragraphs with semicolons and quotation marks in all the right places. These were kids who, just two weeks earlier, could barely string together a complete thought. We knew what was happening. Parents were doing the work.
Some kids had help. Others didn’t. And every teacher saw the same thing: the system wasn’t built for disruption. And our assessments weren’t built for our new reality.
Now, AI is here, and instead of asking how we adapt, we’re back in panic mode.
We’ve seen this movie. COVID was our stress test. It showed us exactly how rigid, outdated, and unequal our education system is. And instead of using that moment to rethink how we teach and evaluate progress, we duct-taped the old model back together.
Different issue, same blind spot. And we’re about to blow it again.
AI isn’t the future. It’s the present.
AI isn’t on its way. It’s already in our classrooms. Pretending otherwise doesn’t protect kids. It fails them—just like when COVID hit and we tried to make a broken system limp along.
AI isn’t theoretical—it’s already everywhere.
Recommendation engines, autocomplete, scheduling tools. Automation’s been quietly shaping our lives for years. AI is just the louder, faster sibling who finally showed up to the party. And it’s not going away.
So let’s stop asking, “Should we allow AI in schools?” and ask, “Are we willing—and nimble enough—to keep up with the world our kids are already living in?” And more importantly, “Do we care enough to teach them how to use it responsibly?”
Because if we don’t, they’ll figure it out without us. They already are—and without guidance, they’re using it in ways we don’t see, can’t track, and won’t be able to undo. That’s not just a tech issue. It’s a connection issue. And if we lose that, we lose the whole point of education.
Pretending AI doesn’t exist won’t stop kids from using it, just like ignoring sex doesn’t stop teenagers from having it. It’s not just ineffective—it’s reckless. We don’t prevent it by banning the word—we teach it with honesty, caution, and values. AI deserves the same approach: guidance over denial, responsibility over fear.
Teaching kids to avoid AI isn’t teaching them at all. It’s just assigning tasks and losing influence.
Avoiding AI deepens the equity gap.
Let’s be honest, kids with involved parents, better tech access, and more support will learn how to use AI, just like they’ve learned every other tool.
If we ban it in schools, we’re not keeping it away. We’re just keeping it away from the students who need the most support.
And when those students graduate into a world where AI fluency is expected, they’ll compete with peers who’ve been using it for years.
Avoiding AI in education isn’t safety—it’s surrender. And it deepens the gap between the haves and the have-nots, adding another layer of denial to a system already buried in it.
What teachers are resisting isn’t AI—it’s the overhaul it demands.
If I had to guess, I’d say most teachers aren’t resisting AI—they’re resisting the overhaul it demands.
In my experience, change is rare in education—not because teachers don’t care, but because the system makes change feel impossible. Even a helpful tool can feel like one more weight to carry when you're already drowning. The status quo may be broken, but at least it’s familiar.
Still, if there were ever a time to rethink how we teach, measure learning, and serve students, it’s now. The system isn’t working—and it hasn’t for a long time.
AI didn’t create this problem. It’s just the latest issue exposing the system’s deeper deficiencies.
Doing things the way we’ve always done them doesn’t protect kids. It leaves them unprepared. Adaptation isn’t just necessary—it’s overdue.
Responsible use doesn’t happen by accident—we have to teach it.
“Responsible use” means students understand that AI is a tool, not a shortcut. They know when to use it, how to question it, and how to take ownership of their work. They use it to brainstorm, revise, and stretch their thinking, not sidestep it.
Prepared students don’t just use AI—they outthink it.
Yes, some will lean too hard on it, just like they do with calculators. But avoiding AI doesn’t encourage deeper thinking. It just dodges the responsibility of teaching it well.
AI is already in their hands. If we ignore that, they’ll use it to bypass the complex skills without learning the deeper ones. But if we teach them to interrogate it, refine it, push back on it, we can deepen their learning, not cheapen it.
AI can’t teach depth. But it can help students reach it faster—if we show them how.
Yes, there are risks: bias, misuse, overreliance. But that’s exactly why classrooms need to be part of the solution. Responsible use doesn’t happen by accident—it takes informed guidance. Educators should partner with parents to help students understand, apply, and practice it.
When used right, AI helps teachers do more of what matters.
This isn’t abstract for me.
I’ve taught in classrooms where I had to differentiate five reading levels in a single lesson. If I’d had a tool that could generate content for each group—instantly—I would’ve used it. Not to replace teaching, but to make it possible. To meet more needs, more effectively.
AI can do that. It can help teachers manage what once felt impossible to juggle.
No, it won’t form relationships. It can’t inspire a discouraged student or notice when someone’s about to give up. But it can clear some of the mental clutter so teachers can focus on what matters most—connection.
We don’t need fewer teachers and more AI. We need better, more efficient tools that help good teachers teach better.
We also need to rethink the mindset that drives so many education decisions. Schools often prioritize order and control over flexibility and responsiveness—not because they don’t care, but because it feels safer and more manageable.
But the world our kids are entering is fast, unpredictable, and full of gray areas. If we want to prepare them for it, our classrooms must reflect it.
The AI train has already left the station. We can start running, catch up, and jump on board—or we can close our eyes and hope it backs up and waits for us.
One moves us forward. The other leaves us behind.
We’ve been here before. Let’s not blow it again.
I’ve heard the nostalgic arguments: more paper, more silence, fewer screens. I get it, and I’m here for it. We’re overloaded and out of whack. But wishing for a reset button doesn’t prepare kids for the world they’re living in today—or the one they’re walking into tomorrow.
We can’t ready them for a tech-saturated future by banning the very tools shaping it. And we can’t keep pretending that just because we didn’t grow up with AI, they aren’t either.
We’ve seen this pattern before—with smartphones, the internet, social media. And every time, we waited too long to teach the hard stuff. Let’s not do that again.
Students are already using AI—quietly, often poorly. Ignoring it doesn’t protect their integrity. It just leaves them guessing at the rules.
The real question isn’t whether AI undermines learning—it’s whether we will let fear shape strategy and policy instead of reason.
Denying kids access to the very tools shaping their future isn’t caution. It’s fear dressed up as virtue.
If we want ethical, safe, genuinely beneficial AI in education, we must demand it. And that means getting involved. Not later. Now.
Kids don’t need hollow restrictions. They need meaningful instruction.
We need to teach them how to think in the age of AI—not run from it. How to hold both technology and wonder. How to stay human in a world driven by machines.
Refusing to teach them isn’t protection—it’s abandonment. And the last thing we should do is leave them unprepared and alone in a world that’s already moving without us.
Erin Miller is a writer, parent coach, and former teacher who helps tired, tuned-in parents cut through the noise and lead with clarity. A mom to two almost-grown daughters, she brings hard-won perspective, warmth, and zero interest in performative parenting to the work of raising strong, compassionate, independent kids. She’s the creator of unpopular PARENT—a space for unfiltered, thoughtful conversation about what it really takes to raise good humans. You can follow her writing on Substack or connect with her at unpopularparent.com.
We Shouldn’t Welcome AI into the Classroom
We shouldn’t welcome AI into the classroom - and I stand by that. That’s my genuine position. But still, for the sake of a good old-fashioned debate… why not? So I asked the AI itself. If we’re debating its place in our kids’ education, shouldn’t it get a chance to speak for itself? Seems only fair to hear all sides - even the artificial ones.
To its credit, the AI didn’t try to sneak into the classroom wearing a hoodie. Instead, it came back with a whole list of reasons why it shouldn’t be there. Good start.
But here’s the thing: most of those concerns? Totally fixable. I’ve got a background in math and software engineering, and from where I’m standing, many of these problems can - and probably will - be solved pretty soon.
Still, call me old-fashioned, but I’m not convinced. And here’s why:
We’re Simply Not Ready Yet
AI tools carry a kind of weight and potential that feels comparable to the invention of the internet - maybe even more disruptive. They’re already reshaping how we work, learn, and communicate, and there’s no “undo” button. Will they make our lives better or worse in the long run? That’s still up for debate.
On one hand, AI might help us cure cancer - it’s already spotting diseases in X-rays faster than we can. It could help us solve problems we once thought impossible. I’m dreaming big here - but only because I believe we haven’t even scratched the surface of what this tech might eventually do.
On the flip side? It could all go sideways. Let’s not forget Skynet, hey. Sci-fi has a strange habit of becoming “oops, real life” - often faster than we expect.
And right now? We’re mostly using AI to generate videos of Will Smith eating spaghetti. Which, hey, is bizarrely fascinating - but maybe not quite the revolution education needs at this moment.
It’s like we’ve just discovered fire, and we’re still deciding whether to cook dinner with it… or accidentally burn the hut down.
Why the Human Touch Still Matters - in Creativity and in Classrooms
One of the earliest fears around AI was that creative folks - designers, musicians, writers - were done for. Game over. Pack it up. The robots were coming for the arts.
But no - not even close.
I use AI a lot in my work (software engineering) - it’s a powerful tool. But when it comes to the illustrations for my next project? They’re still proudly made by a real human, living and creating in Barcelona.
Yes, AI can generate music - but most of it still sounds like it belongs in an elevator. Technically fine. Emotionally flat. It knows the notes, but not the soul.
Same goes for writing. Sure, it can churn out words. But anyone who spends time here in the Substack community can feel the difference. We can tell the fast, flavorless output of a machine from something written with heart, knowledge and intention.
And that brings us straight to teaching - because teaching is, at its core, another form of creative expression.
It’s not just about transferring knowledge. It’s about knowing how to share it. It’s storytelling, empathy, adaptability. It’s reading a room and reshaping a lesson in real time based on blank stares or raised hands. A great teacher doesn’t just hand out facts - they build bridges between information and meaning.
Take the teacher out of the equation, and what’s left? A content dump. No spark, no curiosity, no real learning.
Education needs people. It needs timing, emotional nuance, intuition - all the messy, brilliant things that make us human. Without that, learning becomes mechanical. Hollow. Just memorization dressed up with fancy tools.
And that’s not education. That’s content delivery.
So yes, AI might help support learning. But replace the human at the center of it all? Not a chance. Not now. Not ever, if we want kids to leave the classroom with more than just facts - if we want them to leave with wonder, connection, and the capacity to think for themselves.
The real danger isn’t AI - it’s turning teachers into a luxury.
Now, having said all that - my biggest worry isn’t AI itself. It’s us. The humans behind the steering wheel. The way we tend to roll out change isn’t exactly confidence-inspiring. We’ve got a pretty solid track record of chasing what’s cheaper, faster, and more "economically viable," even if it ends up being worse for everyone in the long run.
And that’s where things could go seriously sideways.
I’m afraid we’ll let AI take over classrooms not because it’s better, but because it’s budget-friendly. Because it scales. Because someone somewhere decided it looks good on a spreadsheet.
Imagine this: the standard, everyday classroom becomes a tablet and an algorithm. A one-size-fits-all content streamed on demand, optimized for efficiency. Meanwhile, real, human-led education - the kind with a whiteboard, a chalk-smudged sleeve, and a teacher who actually knows your kid’s name - that becomes a premium product. A luxury. Something only the well-off can afford.
That’s the future I’m scared of. Not robot overlords, not Terminators - just a quiet shift where we convince ourselves we’re being innovative, when really we’re just cutting corners and calling it progress.
We cannot let that happen.
Every kid deserves a shot at real, human connection in the classroom. Not because it’s nostalgic. Because it works. Because no algorithm in the world can look into your child’s eyes and know when they’re lost, bored, or just having a rough day.
AI might help around the edges - sure. But the center of education should always, always be people.
That’s not just good sense. That’s good parenting.
Yuri Dolzhenko is a proud dad to 4-year-old Alan and a three-legged Cocker Spaniel named Funtik. He is a software engineer and creator of The Dad Journal. Thriving in Amsterdam, the greatest city there is. You can find more of his writing right here on Substack.
 | A guest post by
|
 | A guest post by
|