Final week, I discovered myself hunched over my laptop computer at 10 p.m. (hey, that’s late for me!), wrestling with a coding drawback. 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 continually requested questions like “Ought to my children study to code?” and “What abilities do they really want on this AI world?” I ponder 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 will we put together them for the longer term, particularly as issues are shifting so rapidly?
Maybe counterintuitively, this AI revolution would possibly make a liberal arts schooling extra beneficial. A poetry main learns specific humanity. A historian learns classes from the previous. A philosophy scholar learns to query assumptions and moral frameworks. These timeless human abilities turn into much more essential as AI handles the technical heavy lifting. With these foundational skills to grasp and specific the human situation, what’s potential with creativity turns into boundless.
The Finish of Coding Is the Starting of Downside-Fixing
As AI begins writing code, we’re coming into what my good friend Tim O’Reilly calls “the tip 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 individuals to form expertise. The longer term isn’t about figuring out code; it’s about figuring out what to construct and why.
Stanford researchers, together with Noah Goodman (who’s each a pc scientist and a psychologist learning human cognition), lately revealed a fascinating paper inspecting how completely different AI techniques method problem-solving.
What makes Goodman’s perspective so beneficial is his twin experience in how minds, each human and synthetic, work. His paper reveals that the considering patterns that make sure AI techniques extra profitable mirror these of efficient human problem-solvers: Essentially the most profitable techniques confirm their work, backtrack when caught, break massive issues into manageable subgoals, and work backward from desired outcomes.
It’s a profound discovery: The talents that make people efficient problem-solvers will stay beneficial no matter how AI evolves. It made me notice that these cognitive behaviors—not coding syntax—are what we needs to be nurturing in our youngsters.
5 Important Abilities Youngsters 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 can serve them no matter how expertise evolves.
1. Loving the journey, not simply the vacation spot
When homework appears unimaginable 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 skill 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—may be the only most necessary talent we will nurture in our children.
Growing a love of studying helps them to see robust issues as fascinating puzzles somewhat than scary roadblocks. This doesn’t simply apply to tutorial topics. Real curiosity concerning the world prepares kids to adapt repeatedly. Essentially the most profitable individuals I do know aren’t those that memorized essentially the most info or mastered one particular talent; they’re those who stayed curious and stored going via fixed change.
We regularly discuss intrinsic motivation as a prerequisite for studying, but it surely’s additionally a muscle you construct via the educational course of. As kids deal with challenges and expertise the satisfaction of overcoming them, they’re not simply fixing issues; they’re growing the motivation to deal with the following one.
2. Being a question-asker, not simply an answer-getter
Whenever you’re a scholar, 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 essentially 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.
Probably the most highly effective metaskills we might help kids develop is self-awareness about their very own studying model. Some are project-based learners who must construct one thing as a way to perceive it. Others study via dialog, writing, visualization, or educating others. When a baby discovers how their mind works greatest, they will method 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 without any consideration, and searching for deeper understanding. Kids who study to ask good questions will direct the world somewhat than be directed by it. They’ll know break massive issues into solvable items—an method that works in any area.
3. Attempting, failing, and attempting otherwise
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 info 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 strive completely different approaches. This implies getting comfy with saying issues like “Let me strive a distinct 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 method issues with confidence somewhat than giving up.
4. Seeing the entire image
The most important challenges we at the moment face, from local weather change to healthcare, require understanding how completely 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 funds doesn’t stability.
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.
After we train children to see connections somewhat than remoted info, we put together them to deal with issues that AI alone can’t clear up. They turn into administrators somewhat than followers, capable of mix human wants with technological potentialities.
5. Strolling in others’ footwear
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 particularly necessary as we increase the following era.
Expertise with out human understanding results in options that may look good on paper however neglect the actual individuals they’re meant to assist. I’ve seen this firsthand in authorities techniques that course of individuals effectively however fail to acknowledge their dignity and distinctive conditions.
Kids who develop deep empathy will create applied sciences that really serve humanity somewhat 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 keep in mind that behind each information level is a human story, and that essentially the most significant improvements are those who strengthen our connections to 1 one other.
The Actual Future: Amplifying Human Creativity
These 5 abilities converge in what I see as essentially the most thrilling side of our AI-augmented future: democratized creation. As extra individuals achieve the flexibility to form expertise, even with out conventional coding abilities, we’ll see an explosion of native, purpose-driven options.
As I lately wrote, I helped put collectively ai/teenagers, the primary international 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 individuals not solely use expertise however actively form it to resolve 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 completely different studying types.
This future isn’t about AI changing human creativity; it’s about amplifying it, making it potential for extra individuals to deliver their distinctive views and options to life.
Let’s Construct This Future Collectively!
The fantastic thing about this method—specializing in resilience, questioning, adaptation, techniques considering, and empathy—is that it really works no matter how expertise evolves. Essentially the most technologically superior future nonetheless wants individuals who can embrace challenges, ask significant questions, study repeatedly, see connections, and perceive one another.
In some ways, we’re returning to the perfect of a classical schooling for the AI age. These abilities 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 abilities. What different abilities do you suppose we should always give attention to? I’m desperate to study with all of you.