Reflections on Fatherhood and the Future of Learning

October 19, 2026 — Yesterday, a volume titled The End of Education by Neil Postman seemed to call out to me from my shelf, suggesting it was exactly the text I needed for this specific moment in my life.

Written in 1995, the book provided a soothing perspective for me: a programmer currently grappling with confusion and the imminent arrival of fatherhood. Suddenly, my professional expertise—the very skillset that gives me economic value—feels precarious.

The Cycle of Technological Displacement

History is littered with predictions that technology would render traditional schooling obsolete.

"Books will soon be obsolete in the public schools… Our school system will be completely changed inside of ten years." — Thomas Edison, The New York Dramatic Mirror, 1913

As noted in Postman's work (referencing Larry Cuban's Teachers and Machines), there was a time when people believed:

• Language acquisition could be handled via Victrola records.
• The cinema would illustrate concepts that the radio could not.
• Fire-horses and long-haired women would eventually only be seen in museums.

I fell into this same trap in 2013 when I confidently predicted that MOOCs would dismantle the education system.

The Lindy Effect and Institutional Survival

Through the lens of Nassim Nicholas Taleb, I've come to understand the Lindy Effect: the idea that the longer something has survived, the longer it is likely to persist. Survival is a proxy for anti-fragility.

Consider the Ivy League. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were originally established to train the clergy.

"In the Western world, beginning in the thirteenth century and for five hundred years afterward, that God was sufficient justification for the founding of institutions of learning... to great universities, where men were trained to be ministers of God." — The End of Education

These institutions survived the advent of the radio, the movie theater, and the internet. We often mistake the stated reason for an institution's existence for the actual forces that keep it alive.

The AI Paradox

It is a strange irony that technologists—myself included—persistently and incorrectly predict the demise of schools. Yet, with the advent of "intelligence in a bottle" (AI), the traditional classroom feels more absurd than ever. Do we really believe that phrases like "Open your books to page 17" or asking students to solve for $x$ in $\text{ax}^2 + \text{bx} + \text{c} = 0$ will still be relevant in the 2030s?

Education has always shifted its goals to survive. Historically, the aims have been:

• Cultivating a virtuous person
• Creating a functional citizen
• Enabling one to earn a living
• Improving the world
• Mastering basic facts

I once believed the ultimate goal of education was to become "resourceful." To me, this meant the ability to use any available tool to solve a problem. In the era of Google and email, that was the gold standard. However, that definition of resourcefulness is now perfectly embodied by the AI agent's tool-use loop:

def ai_agent_loop(problem):
    while not problem.solved:
        tool = select_best_resource(problem)
        result = tool.execute()
        problem.update(result)
    return "Problem Solved"

The Crisis of Value

I didn't realize how much I relied on the "ability to earn a living" as a metric for educational success until that metric began to shake. I wanted an objective measure of "good."

• Steve Jobs & Bill Gates: Dropped out, but the market validated them.
• Albert Einstein: A mediocre student, but his scientific genius provided his escape.

Now, AI's proficiency in mathematics and coding threatens both the "dropout mogul" and the "eccentric genius" paths. As Clara Collier argues in her essay "After Work, We’ll Have Each Other," we must ask: If AI strips away our ability to contribute economically, what remains for our children?

A New Path Forward

Postman suggests that we can simply invent new purposes for education. His heartening proposals include:

1. Spaceship Earth: Emphasizing global interdependence and planetary stewardship.
2. The American Experiment: Rediscovering curiosity and responsibility regarding the American identity.
3. The World Makers: Encouraging students to create the tools and narratives that shape human existence (influenced by McLuhan).

I believe in the concept that the medium is the message—the how of teaching is often more vital than the what. Following Alfie Kohn's philosophy, we should move from "doing to" our students (treating them as objects) to "doing with" them (treating them as humans).

My Conclusion: The most honest approach is to invite my son to help me define the purpose of his education as we navigate this uncertain future together.