Capturing the education market is a key strategy for many Gen AI companies. After all, there’s a boatload of money in education reform. Too bad that money isn’t there for K-12 public school districts struggling amidst the “Starve the Beast” mandates from sleazy politicians doing their best to divert funding from schools to charter schools and other money-making schemes. “Follow the money,” my Dad always told me, “and you’ll find who really gets the benefits.” That’s why critical thinking is so important, and why it’s seldom taught or encouraged among voters and students.

Study Mode #FAIL

Maurie Beasley points out that vaunted “study mode” doesn’t really help students think their way to better grades:

Study Mode sounds like critical thinking training, until you watch a 4th grader click their way to the right answer without doing any of it.

OpenAI’s new “Study Mode” turns your AI into a tutor that asks questions, gives hints, and nudges students toward logic. In theory, it’s a win: a patient, tireless helper that can adjust to each student’s pace, level, and learning style. Differentiation at scale. Personalized scaffolding without a stack of prep work.

But last school year, I was in a 4th-grade classroom and watched a student “game” the system. He figured out how to click his way past every question until the AI handed over the right answer. No analysis. No reflection. No actual learning…just button pushing until the task was done.

In this case, companies and the current administration are saying Gen AI can help kids study, and learn faster, better. But the human brain doesn’t work faster or better except when the hacks align to its way of working. Let’s focus on workflows that rely on evidence-based strategies and leverage technology to stimulate, not supplant, critical thinking.