Over the last ten years, as social media, AI, and online classes have advanced in our daily lives, parents and even children have started to wonder. Is school still worth it? 

But what does this question imply? Does it mean children shouldn’t go to school because everything is easily accessible to find information? Or does it mean that the schools are lacking in setting up children for success in the real world? 

In my personal opinion, I think it could go either way. Yes, a lot of information is straightforward to look up. But schools could prevent that and allow children to become advanced naturally with no handouts. A lot of adults are worried about the upcoming generations, like my father, John. When asked, “How do you think the upcoming generations are going to function in the real world with the internet?” he replied, “The incoming generations aren’t going to be as intelligent as they could be. Everything is right there for them; there’s no reason for them to think, so they simply don’t.”  

That was a huge eye-opener for someone born into the media-based generation. Being that he had a strong opinion on how technology affects student learning, I asked my father his opinions on education, and he answered with, “The teachers struggle to maintain books and hands-on assignments. In my opinion, they are getting just as lazy as the kids.” Personally, I agree with this statement because we, as kids, get blamed for slacking or not trying as hard, but the teachers and adults in our world are our leaders. We follow what we are taught, and many of them are just as guilty for relying on technology or having students use it.

That allowed me to form my third question, where I asked my father who he thinks is more at fault with the power of AI and open access to the internet in school. My father stated, “It’s between the children and the schools. Yes, children use the internet when it is open for them, but the schools don’t do much about it. There are tons of ways to prevent it, and they decide not to because it makes less work for both parties.” In a way, I can most definitely see how both factors impact the situation. I don’t think it’s this or that; it’s a very equal mixture of both.

Lastly and most importantly, I asked him, “Is school worth it still?” My father took a bit to reply with this question, but he soon answered with, “Of course, schools are worth it. But, not so much for education anymore. Schools became an important part of hanging out with friends, joining sports, and trying new things. More than going to school for education, and starting to build up who you are. It’s sad, but it’s the truth. School was made to push you to become a real person, with a real job, with real goals. Kids today are just given everything; there’s no pushing or motivation behind that.”

I think the only issue here is that different schools have different priorities. It changes the dynamic and how kids are taught. Yes, less technology would be great, but maybe not the biggest worry for them.

There are different points of view on the situation, but nobody is to blame. Maybe one party is more accountable than the rest, maybe it’s just us growing as a union, maybe we’re all just getting lazy. 

Nobody’s sure, but the future will tell.