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A programmer expecting his first child has published a personal essay asking what education should prepare children for as AI changes the value of some work skills. Drawing on Neil Postman’s 1995 book, he argues that schooling may endure while its purposes shift, and suggests parents and children should shape those purposes together.
A programmer expecting his first child has published an essay questioning what parents should teach children as artificial intelligence changes the value of work skills. In a post dated October 19, 2026, Steve Krouse draws on Neil Postman’s 1995 book The End of Education to argue that schools may persist even as their purposes change, and says families could discuss those purposes with children rather than treat education as a fixed program.
Krouse writes that programming, once a central part of his economically valuable skill set, now feels less secure to him. He does not present a forecast about the scale or timing of AI’s effects on employment. Instead, his essay begins with a personal question: “What shall I teach my son?” The concern behind it is whether earning a living can remain the main yardstick for a good education if AI alters the work people do.
To examine the question, Krouse revisits Postman’s argument that education has served multiple purposes over time. He lists aims such as becoming a good person and citizen, earning a living, improving the world, and learning basic facts. His earlier idea that education should make a person “resourceful” now seems less settled to him: he writes that AI agents may perform some tasks that once made resourcefulness a distinct human advantage. This is his interpretation, not evidence that schools or human problem-solving have become obsolete.
Krouse points to Postman’s proposed educational narratives, including “Spaceship Earth,” “The American Experiment” and “The World Makers.” He says their value lies partly in showing that societies can argue for new purposes for education. The essay’s proposed approach is to involve children in shaping what their education is for, while treating them as people rather than objects to be managed.
Education Beyond Job Preparation
The essay matters as a personal account of a question facing parents and educators: what should schooling prioritize if the relationship between education and employment changes? It does not establish that AI will remove work or make particular subjects unnecessary. It does show how uncertainty about future work can unsettle a familiar measure of educational value: whether learning helps someone earn a living.
Krouse’s response is not to offer a new curriculum or claim that schools should be replaced. He argues instead that education has always carried several purposes and may adapt as social conditions change. That framing keeps attention on values that are harder to reduce to job preparation, including citizenship, care for others, curiosity, and participation in shaping the tools and stories that influence society.
For readers, the practical significance is the question itself rather than a settled answer. Families and schools may need to discuss what they want education to support, while avoiding the assumption that a current technology trend determines what children will need throughout their lives.
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Past Predictions About School Technology
Krouse frames his concern through the history of predictions that new media would displace teachers and schools. In the source essay, he quotes Thomas Edison predicting in 1913 that books would soon be obsolete in public schools and that the school system would be completely changed within a decade. He also cites a passage from Postman’s book describing earlier forecasts that radio and films would push teachers aside.
The essay notes that Krouse himself predicted in 2013 that massive open online courses, or MOOCs, would upend education. He says that prediction proved too bold. Drawing on the idea of the Lindy Effect, he argues that institutions that have endured may have capacities to adapt. He also names institutional supports such as endowments, prestige, and the role schools play in child care. These are his explanations for their persistence, not a guarantee that schools will remain unchanged.
Postman’s book, published in 1995, examined the purposes that education serves and the stories that give it meaning. Krouse connects that work to current concerns about AI, but the essay is a reflection, not a study measuring AI’s effects on schools, learning, or the labor market.
“Books will soon be obsolete in the public schools… Our school system will be completely changed inside of ten years.”
— Thomas Edison, as quoted in Krouse’s essay from The New York Dramatic Mirror, 1913
AI’s Educational Effects Remain Open
The essay does not establish how AI will affect jobs, wages, classroom practice, or children’s future skills. Krouse describes his own programming work as feeling less secure and raises the possibility that AI could change the value of resourcefulness, but he offers no labor-market data or timeline. It is also unclear which of Postman’s proposed educational purposes families or schools might adopt, or how those ideas would translate into teaching and assessment.
Nor does the essay argue that schools are certain to continue in their current form. Its comparison with earlier technologies supports a case for caution about predictions, not proof that AI will have effects comparable to radio, film, or the internet. The piece is a personal reflection published on Krouse’s website, not an official policy announcement or a reported study.
A Family Question, Not a Policy
Krouse closes without a curriculum, institutional plan, or prediction of what schools will look like in the 2030s. His immediate next step is personal: he and his wife are expecting their first child, and he suggests they may work with that child over time to discuss education’s purpose. The essay offers no date for a follow-up or indication that a school system will act on its ideas.
For now, the development is a prompt for discussion rather than a change in policy. Any broader assessment of AI’s effects on education will require evidence about how students learn, how schools use these tools, and how work changes. Krouse’s account leaves those questions open while making clear why the issue has become personally urgent for him.
Key Questions
What is the essay about?
Steve Krouse asks what education should prepare children for as AI changes how he views the future value of his programming skills. He connects the question to becoming a father and to Neil Postman’s writing about education’s purposes.
Does Krouse say AI will make schools obsolete?
No. He notes that past predictions about technologies replacing schools have often been too confident and argues that schools have endured while adapting. He does not claim that their current form is guaranteed to last.
What purposes for education does the essay identify?
Krouse lists aims that include becoming a good person or citizen, earning a living, improving the world, and learning basic facts. He also discusses Postman’s ideas of shared responsibility, civic curiosity, and helping shape tools and narratives.
Does the essay provide evidence about AI and employment?
No. Krouse describes his personal concern about programming and raises questions about AI’s effect on work, but the essay does not include employment data, forecasts, or a measured account of AI’s impact.
Source: hn
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