The Teacher-less School
Who needs humans when AI can do it all in two hours?
Peter Greene reported back in January on a phenomenon that is getting some additional attention in the age of rapid school privatization and the quest to “solve” the teacher shortage.
It’s actually pretty easy to solve the teacher shortage when you operate schools that don’t need any teachers:
MacKenzie Price has made headlines with a charter school that uses two hours of AI instead of human teachers, then expanded that model to cyber schools under the “Unbound Academic Institute” brand. Now she is awaiting approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Education that would bring that same cyber charter model to cash in on the commonwealth’s already-crowded, yet still profitable, cyber school marketplace.
How does it work?
The personal tutor in this case is a collection of computer apps. After two hours at the computer, students spend the rest of the day pursuing “personal interests” and joining in life skills workshops. There are no teachers in Alpha’s schools, but “guides” are on hand to provide motivation and support. Tuition at most of the Alpha campuses is $40,000 a year.
Ostensibly, a cyber charter school using the Unbound/Alpha model would be a “public” school receiving state funds to support its alleged educational offerings.