Monday, June 2, 2025

Author: Mary Black

It Was Only a Matter Of Time: AI Generated Classrooms Are Here!

When the teachers became facilitators rather than purveyors of

knowledge in the classroom, the plan to remove teachers from

classrooms became obvious.

Proponents of Common Core made providing the same

education, one-size fits all, to all students a selling point.

The Common Core Standards (CCSS), rebranded as the College

and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) and codified in 2015 by

ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act), were described as only

standards. Implementing the standards to meet federal

government funding required many hours of professional

development, new textbooks with scripted Teacher Editions,

online lesson plans, and videos. This transition placed the

teachers in the entirely new role of facilitator; one who facilitates

peer learning, or students teaching one another in groups. As

one colleague informed me, teachers were no longer to be the

“sage on the stage,” but the “guide from the side.”

Not only did the College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS)

change how and what students were taught, avenues for

indoctrination and pornography in the classroom were opened.

Examples included Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) that

served as a gateway to Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Planned

Parenthood’s influence. Most importantly, the emphasis of

education became social rather than academic.

The behaviorally based standards changed learning to training.The 

CCRS (aka CCSS) were written in such fashion as to imply that 

educating children was like programming a computer or training a dog. 

Examine the following English Language Art (ELA) standard for a 

Grade 2 student. Demonstrate command of the

conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and

spelling when writing.

The educational theories of Lev Vygotsky (1896 -1938), a Soviet

psychologist, were incorporated into the CCRS. He believed

that mental and cognitive abilities were not biologically

determined (God-created) but were created through social

interaction (humanism). Thus, teachers “facilitated” the

development of students’ cognitive and mental abilities by

creating a social and cultural environment that promoted

interaction.

Teachers became parents or caretakers rather than educators of

the young. An Indiana bill (HB 1002) provided a list of

requirements for teachers. The list included that teachers must

be: 1) trained to teach SEL, 2) trained to provide a trauma-

informed classroom, 3) trained in cardio-pulmonary removal of a

foreign object, the Heimlich maneuver, and use of an AED

defibrillator, 4) certified by the American Red Cross or the

American Heart Association to perform CPR, 5) trained to

recognize and prevent bullying, 6) trained to recognize and

prevent child abuse and child sexual abuse, 7) trained to teach

hygiene and sanitary science, 8) trained to teach cultural

competency. To paraphrase an old but effective advertisement,

one might ask “Where are the academics?” The educational

responsibilities of teachers became miniscule.

Some new “ideas” were so incrementally introduced as to make

the changing role of teachers almost undetectable. Such things

as student-led parent-teacher conferences, group projects, and

student- directed learning were steps toward teachers becoming

non-educators.

Other new “ideas” were not so subtle. No Child Left Behind

became law in 2001. Its purpose was to hold schools (teachers,

more specifically) accountable for the equal success of all

students despite disadvantaged backgrounds or disabilities.

Vygotsky’s theory had been incorporated into law. Teachers

were then implied to have been previously ineffective and

failures if all students weren’t equally successful. This created

an animosity between parents and teachers, a team that had in

the past worked together for the benefit of the child. Parents

placed the blame for poor grades and “not fixing” their children on

teachers. Teachers became the scapegoats in this battle.

Into this climate of cultivated teacher distrust, hostile parents, and

the search for a means to provide an equal education to all

entered Artificial Intelligence (AI). Concisely, the goal from the

time of Horace Mann (1790-1859), who brought Prussian

education to the United States, was total government control of

education; parents were seen as obstacles. Recently, this writer

learned that AI has developed programs that replace live teachers

with AI teachers in online schools. Software companies

developed programs to take recorded classes and script them

based on the content in the recording. The AI teacher can be

made to resemble whatever the school prefers.

This writer, a teacher for 51 years, shuttered at the thought of this

trend in education. The many students who passed through my

classrooms, both brick-and-mortar and virtual, were unique with

their God-given abilities. The thought that an AI teacher

possessed the ability to connect with each child on a human level

seemed inconceivable!

In his article “Who’s Afraid of Artificial Intelligence?”, Robert

Knight quoted the writing of Gleb Lisikh, an IT management

professional. Lisikh wrote “These models aren’t searching for

truth through facts and logical arguments – they’re predicting text

based on patterns in the vast datasets they’re trained on.” Knight

warned of the soullessness of AI and continued by stating “There

is no moral force restraining it, and its ability to “think” has been

exaggerated.” Beware of the dehumanization of the education

process. It was only a matter of time!

Mary Black is a 51 year educator who continues to influence the 

education field as a contributor, curriculum writer and mentor.