Final week, I discovered myself hunched over my laptop computer at 10 p.m. (hey, that’s late for me!), wrestling with a coding downside. After hours of frustration, I stepped away and made a cup of tea. After I returned, I did what any self-respecting technologist in 2025 would do: I backtracked, reformulated my query, and requested ChatGPT for assist.
I’m consistently requested questions like “Ought to my children study to code?” and “What expertise do they really want on this AI world?” I’m wondering about this too. I imply, if AI can now write code higher than most people, ought to we nonetheless be educating children to do it? How can we put together them for the long run, particularly as issues are transferring so shortly?
Maybe counterintuitively, this AI revolution may make a liberal arts training extra useful. A poetry main learns how you can specific humanity. A historian learns classes from the previous. A philosophy pupil learns to query assumptions and moral frameworks. These timeless human expertise change into much more essential as AI handles the technical heavy lifting. With these foundational skills to grasp and specific the human situation, what’s doable with creativity turns into boundless.
The Finish of Coding Is the Starting of Drawback-Fixing
As AI begins writing code, we’re coming into what my pal Tim O’Reilly calls “the top of programming as we all know it.” We’ve gone from punch playing cards to meeting language to C, Python, and JavaScript—and now we’re simply telling computer systems what to do in plain language. That shift opens the door for extra folks to form expertise. The long run isn’t about understanding code; it’s about understanding what to construct and why.
Stanford researchers, together with Noah Goodman (who’s each a pc scientist and a psychologist learning human cognition), just lately revealed a fascinating paper inspecting how totally different AI methods strategy problem-solving.
What makes Goodman’s perspective so useful is his twin experience in how minds, each human and synthetic, work. His paper exhibits that the considering patterns that make sure AI methods extra profitable mirror these of efficient human problem-solvers: Probably the most profitable methods confirm their work, backtrack when caught, break huge issues into manageable subgoals, and work backward from desired outcomes.
It’s a profound discovery: The abilities that make people efficient problem-solvers will stay useful no matter how AI evolves. It made me understand that these cognitive behaviors—not coding syntax—are what we needs to be nurturing in our kids.
5 Important Expertise Children Want (Greater than Coding)
I’m not saying we shouldn’t train children to code. It’s a helpful talent. However these are the 5 true foundations that may serve them no matter how expertise evolves.
1. Loving the journey, not simply the vacation spot
When homework appears inconceivable or a LEGO construction collapses for the fifth time, it’s simple for teenagers to get discouraged. However educating them that setbacks are studying alternatives builds the bounce-back capacity they’ll want in a quickly altering world. The capability to soak up real setbacks and proceed ahead—discovering one thing new even after they don’t attain their preliminary aim—is likely to be the one most vital talent we will nurture in our children.
Creating a love of studying helps them to see robust issues as fascinating puzzles quite than scary roadblocks. This doesn’t simply apply to tutorial topics. Real curiosity concerning the world prepares youngsters to adapt constantly. Probably the most profitable folks I do know aren’t those that memorized probably the most info or mastered one particular talent; they’re those who stayed curious and stored going via fixed change.
We frequently discuss intrinsic motivation as a prerequisite for studying, however it’s additionally a muscle you construct via the training course of. As youngsters deal with challenges and expertise the satisfaction of overcoming them, they’re not simply fixing issues; they’re creating the motivation to deal with the subsequent one.
2. Being a question-asker, not simply an answer-getter
Whenever you’re a pupil, you’re judged by how nicely you reply questions.…However in life, you’re judged by how good your questions are.—Robert Langer, MIT Professor and Cofounder of Moderna
Anybody can ask AI for solutions. Those that ask considerate questions will get probably the most from it. Good questions stem from understanding what you don’t know, being clear about what you’re actually on the lookout for, and framing them in a manner that results in significant solutions.
Some of the highly effective metaskills we may also help youngsters develop is self-awareness about their very own studying type. Some are project-based learners who must construct one thing to be able to perceive it. Others study via dialog, writing, visualization, or educating others. When a baby discovers how their mind works greatest, they will strategy any new topic via the lens that works for them, turning what may need been a wrestle right into a pure course of.
When a baby asks, “Why is the sky blue?,” they’re doing one thing highly effective: noticing patterns, questioning what others take with no consideration, and in search of deeper understanding. Youngsters who study to ask good questions will direct the world quite than be directed by it. They’ll know how you can break huge issues into solvable items—an strategy that works in any subject.
3. Attempting, failing, and attempting in a different way
When fixing issues, scientists don’t transfer ahead in a straight line. They make guesses, check them, and sometimes uncover they had been fallacious. Then they use that data to make higher guesses. This try-learn-adjust loop is one thing all profitable problem-solvers use, whether or not they’re fixing code or determining life.
When one thing doesn’t work as anticipated—together with an AI-generated reply—children want to determine what went fallacious after which attempt totally different approaches. This implies getting comfy with saying issues like “Let me attempt a unique manner” or “That didn’t work as a result of…”
Whether or not they’re troubleshooting a tool or navigating on a regular basis challenges, this mindset helps them strategy issues with confidence quite than giving up.
4. Seeing the entire image
The most important challenges we at present face, from local weather change to healthcare, require understanding how totally different items join and affect one another. This “big-picture considering” applies equally to on a regular basis conditions, equivalent to understanding why a classroom will get noisy or why a household price range doesn’t steadiness.
This mindset is about recognizing patterns and understanding how altering one factor impacts the whole lot else. It helps us anticipate unintended penalties and create options that truly work.
Once we train children to see connections quite than remoted info, we put together them to deal with issues that AI alone can’t resolve. They change into administrators quite than followers, in a position to mix human wants with technological potentialities.
5. Strolling in others’ sneakers
In my latest op-ed for the Chicago Tribune, I argued that effectivity and empathy aren’t opposing forces. They want one another. This precept is very vital as we increase the subsequent era.
Expertise with out human understanding results in options which may look good on paper however neglect the actual folks they’re meant to assist. I’ve seen this firsthand in authorities methods that course of folks effectively however fail to acknowledge their dignity and distinctive conditions.
Youngsters who develop deep empathy will create applied sciences that actually serve humanity quite than simply serving statistics. They’ll ask not solely “Can we construct this?” however “Ought to we construct this, and who will it assist or hurt?” They’ll do not forget that behind each knowledge level is a human story, and that probably the most significant improvements are people who strengthen our connections to 1 one other.
The Actual Future: Amplifying Human Creativity
These 5 expertise converge in what I see as probably the most thrilling side of our AI-augmented future: democratized creation. As extra folks acquire the flexibility to form expertise, even with out conventional coding expertise, we’ll see an explosion of native, purpose-driven options.
As I just lately wrote, I helped put collectively ai/teenagers, the primary world AI convention for and by teenagers. I needed to study from the primary AI-native era, which intuitively understands expertise’s potential in methods many adults don’t.
Think about a world the place younger folks not solely use expertise however actively form it to unravel issues of their communities, designing accessibility instruments for mates with disabilities, creating platforms that join native assets with those that want them, or constructing academic experiences tailor-made to totally different studying types.
This future isn’t about AI changing human creativity; it’s about amplifying it, making it doable for extra folks to carry their distinctive views and options to life.
Let’s Construct This Future Collectively!
The fantastic thing about this strategy—specializing in resilience, questioning, adaptation, methods considering, and empathy—is that it really works no matter how expertise evolves. Probably the most technologically superior future nonetheless wants individuals who can embrace challenges, ask significant questions, study constantly, see connections, and perceive one another.
In some ways, we’re returning to the best of a classical training for the AI age. These expertise kind a contemporary trivium—not grammar, logic, and rhetoric however maybe curiosity, creativity, and compassion—foundational skills that unlock all different studying and doing.
Let’s work on this as a neighborhood! I’m crowdsourcing concepts, actions, and approaches that assist develop these important expertise. What different expertise do you suppose we should always give attention to? I’m wanting to study with all of you.