This article originally appeared in the National Post. Below is an excerpt from the article.
By Paul W. Bennett, July 31, 2025
Generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT have entered classrooms, universities, and homework routines with astonishing speed and little attention to the long-term consequences. A recent Canadian news report, aired on CBC’s The National, also revealed that teachers have mostly been left to fend for themselves.
The current infatuation with AI is part of a recurrent pattern, but the latest educational fad is far more fundamental in its impact on teaching and learning in classrooms. It’s time to ask: Are these tools eating away at our brain power and leading schools astray?
Technology evangelists and educators espousing ‘21st century learning’ tout its ability to save time, individualize instruction, and increase access to information. But little has been done to assess its effects on students’ ability to think independently, write clearly, and engage with knowledge deeply.
What’s encouraging is the fact that leading cognitive scientists, evidence-based researchers, and experienced frontline teachers are beginning to right the balance.
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Paul W. Bennett, Ed.D., is the director of the Schoolhouse Institute, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and an education columnist for Brunswick News/Postmedia.
