Today's youth must navigate a world that is becoming increasingly challenging due to social fragmentation, rapid technology development, and climatic unpredictability. However, educational systems are finding it difficult to keep up with these changes. Artificial intelligence is becoming an integral part of how youth learn and interact despite its consistent misuse. However, education is still underfunded, siloed, and slow to change, overwhelming both teachers and pupils. A fundamental change in how we approach education is required in order to shift from preparing students for a fixed future to one that is constantly changing.
Emerging Risks of AI Amongst the Youth
Many young people are currently using AI tools in ways that are too broad and not specialized enough. These tools frequently complete assignments on students' behalf, which lessens the requirement for independent thought rather than promoting learning. This usage runs the risk of inhibiting critical thinking and creativity, two abilities necessary for tackling problems in an uncertain future.
The one-way nature of many AI interactions also carries a societal danger. Users are rarely emotionally or socially challenged by chatbots, and they never call for empathy, compromise, or opposition. Young individuals run the risk of losing their capacity to form deep connections with others when they regularly participate in situations where they are always "right." This can eventually impair conversational skills and social-emotional abilities, which are essential for teamwork, leadership, and civic involvement.
What the Youth Need to Thrive
The Villars Institute surveyed its community of Villars Fellows, 500 students chosen as representatives from schools around the world recognized for their potential and willingness to act on climate change, and created a concise and comprehensive report: The Global Issues Survey. The Fellows were asked where they see the biggest gaps in education today to equip the next generation with what they need to thrive in their future daily lives and careers within planetary boundaries. This helped identify two main areas educators need to focus on: Nature, emerging technologies, and a shift towards hands-on projects.
Nature exposure is equally significant for all grade levels. Young people who have direct experience with nature are better able to appreciate ecosystems and comprehend how closely their futures are linked to the planet's health. Without this link, teaching about the environment and climate runs the risk of staying abstract rather than inspiring.
Additionally, young people have a genuine curiosity in new technologies. Teaching students about these emerging technologies would allow them to go beyond simple usage of AI and other technologies in the classroom and develop a deeper comprehension of these systems' capabilities, constraints, and possible uses.
Three essential elements are required for youth to transition from anxiety to action: agency, advocacy, and adaptability. The youth need to lead and learn through experiences and project-based learning—by creating time and space in curricula—and give support around impact projects as a means for building agency and aspiration. Teach them about the things that are being done to help our climate change situation so they can shift away from anxiety and towards agency.
Adaptability is essential. Young people must be exposed to vocational career pathways alongside literacy, creativity, and problem-solving abilities. AI is significantly less likely to immediately replace many vocational and skilled craft occupations, which are vital to society. Increasing these avenues is a necessary variety of opportunities rather than a step back.
Bottlenecks in the Current Education System
While real-world issues like climate change are intrinsically multidisciplinary, education itself is often taught in silos. This necessitates a multifaceted curriculum reform. The list of changes in curricula and the competences of teachers never stops growing; in parallel so does the time teachers need to invest in order to check off all these requirements, despite their already limited time available. This creates a competition between entities trying to create reform, going directly against the idea of multifaceted reforms.
How can we expect teachers to prepare children for a future they themselves were not trained for? Due to the current speed of, or lack thereof, the implementation of new content, by the time it is put in place, it is already outdated. Curriculum evolution in education systems requires quicker, more dynamic methods that don't put additional stress on educators.
Funding is still a major problem. The least financed SDG at the moment is Sustainable Development Goal 4: education for all. However, according to Mongolia's prime minister, "one dollar invested in education yields eighteen dollars in return." Despite this demonstrated effect, education is still not given enough priority worldwide.
The Risks and Opportunities of AI Tools in Education
If used properly, AI systems have the ability to greatly lessen the workload for teachers. They can expedite administrative work, offer real-time translation, and assist in communication with neurodivergent students. However, AI can be the most efficient creator of inequality if done wrong.
The people who most need the AI tools are frequently left out of the design; for this reason, educational AI technologies should be co-designed with teachers. Teachers need adequate training, continuous assistance, and open lines of communication for criticism and development with the creators. Equitable access is also necessary: vital educational resources and information shouldn't be proprietary, and developing nations should have the same access to AI tools as developed nations. Importantly, society is still learning about the long-term effects of these tools and how they work. There are significant hazards associated with pushing quick adoption without enough knowledge.
Teaching empathy, companionship, and social connection has to be prioritized more, especially in light of the rising rates of loneliness and the worldwide mental health epidemic among youth. This discussion must include limiting children's and teenagers' use of social media. Personal development, flexibility, and well-being should now be the main indicators of academic success rather than attendance and grades. Education needs to emphasize humanity, creativity, and leadership—things AI cannot replace.
In the end, education should educate youth for change itself rather than a set future. Education may become a force that empowers young people to create a more resilient and equitable world by cultivating adaptability, agency, and profoundly human qualities.
