The purpose of education?

My son came home from school the other day and proudly told me that he'd just got 100% in his Latin test at school.

He was right to be proud. I was too.

He'd worked hard to learn the material. And he'd completed the task in front of him.

But I couldn't help thinking, "what's the point?"

A few centuries ago, I also did Latin at school (it's important to hate something in your life and then, as you grow older and wiser, ensure that your children experience that hatred too).

I picked on Latin because it's so obviously of no use in today's world. But it could have been a history test, or geography or French.

All that knowledge. All that learning.

Completely pointless.

The Purpose of Education

There was a time—not so long ago—when the purpose of education was clear: fill young minds with facts, formulas, and frameworks (and maybe help shape behaviour along the way.)

Memorise capital cities. Learn the rules of grammar. Show your working. Sit still. Don’t interrupt. That was the deal.

And for an era that valued conformity and stability (about 125 years ago), it made sense.

But that era is long gone.

We’re now living in a world where any fact you need can be summoned instantly.

Need Pythagoras' theorem? Done.

Want to understand the causes of World War I? Ask ChatGPT.

Curious about how photosynthesis works, or who won the FA Cup in 1985, or how to write a resignation letter with just enough passive aggression to make your point? You’re two taps away.

As we enter the AI era, the pursuit of knowledge as a goal in itself is over. And schools need to adapt.

What's crazy though is that I thought the age of the Internet (from about 1995 onwards) signalled the end of the pursuit of knowledge.

Ever since we've had broadband internet, the answers have been out there. Freely available to anyone.

And yet, our schools are still teaching the same stuff that I learned at school over 40 years ago.

Why?

What Happens to Education in an AI-Saturated World?

If knowledge is abundant and instantly accessible, then the true value of education shifts from recall to reasoning. From memorising to synthesising. From consuming to challenging.

It’s no longer about having the answers. It’s about knowing what questions to ask—and having the skills to interrogate the answers you get.

This isn’t a philosophical shift—it’s a practical one.

Because while the internet (and now AI) can tell you just about anything, it can’t tell you whether that thing is true, relevant, or ethical.

It can’t tell you whether the information fits in context, or whether it’s based on bias, assumption, or data that’s just a bit too convenient.

That takes human judgment and it takes empathy.

And these are not skills you develop by filling in the blanks.

The Rise of Critical Thinking

We’ve always said we value critical thinking. It’s been on school mission statements for decades. But let’s be honest: in most education systems, it’s been a side dish. A garnish.

Now, it needs to be the main course.

That means helping young people to learn how to interrogate information rather than just absorb it.

To question authority, in the most constructive sense. To evaluate competing sources. To spot flaws in logic. To look at a beautifully designed chart and ask: what’s missing here?

And perhaps most importantly, to say “I don’t know” not as an admission of failure, but as the beginning of curiosity.

We Need to Teach Uncertainty

One of the odd things about traditional education is how much it rewards certainty. The confident answer. The clear thesis. The tidy conclusion.

But real-world problems rarely come with tidy answers. And as AI begins to take on more of the low-level cognitive load, we need to make room for uncertainty in the classroom.

Because that’s where creativity lives.

That’s where innovation starts.

Not with the right answer, but with the right kind of question—followed by a lot of testing, feedback, failure, and iteration.

Ironically, the more precise AI becomes, the more human ambiguity starts to matter.

Human Skills Just Got an Upgrade

If AI is handling knowledge, where does that leave us?

I think the next frontier for education lies in something much more human: community and connection.

Teaching young people how to collaborate. How to communicate with empathy. How to listen deeply, challenge respectfully, and persuade with integrity.

None of that can be automated. And all of it will be essential.

It’s no longer enough to be the smartest person in the room. You also need to be the one who can build trust, navigate conflict, and bring people together around a common goal.

These aren’t “soft” skills. They’re survival skills.

What Needs to Change (and What Probably Won’t)

So how do we get there?

First, we need to rethink what we measure. Most of our current education systems are optimised for what’s easy to test: retention, speed and accuracy.

But the most valuable skills of the AI age—curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration—are harder to assess.

They’re messier. They require long-term observation, not a multiple-choice exam.

Second, we need to rethink how we train teachers. If the role of the teacher is shifting from “source of knowledge” to “facilitator of thinking,” then the training needs to reflect that.

That’s not just about pedagogy—it’s about mindset. A willingness to sit with ambiguity. To model critical thinking in action. To be comfortable saying, “I don’t know. Let’s find out together.”

Third, we need to get honest about the systems we’ve built. Education policy moves slowly. Curriculums are updated every few years—if that.

AI is evolving every few weeks. If we’re serious about preparing the next generation for the world they’re walking into, we can’t afford to move at yesterday’s pace.

Of course, some things won’t change quickly. Standardised testing still drives decisions. University entrance requirements still dictate curriculum. And parents—understandably—want reassurance that their children will “do well.”

But if we wait for every part of the system to agree before we evolve, we’ll never get there.

A Timeline? That Depends on Us

So how long will it take?

That depends on how bold we’re willing to be.

Schools that lean into this shift now will create powerful models for others to follow.

I hope we’ll start to see pockets of innovation spread.

And the more those pockets show results—not just in academic outcomes, but in the confidence and adaptability of the students they produce—the harder it will be for the rest of the system to ignore them.

But this isn’t a five-year fix. It’s generational work.

The question is: do we want to lead the change, or chase it?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Jon "the Teacher" Kaye