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In an essay dated October 19, 2026, programmer Steve Krouse reflects on what to teach his expected first child as advances in AI unsettle the value of programming and other economically useful skills. Drawing on Neil Postman, he argues that education has served several purposes and proposes involving children in deciding what their education is for.
Programmer Steve Krouse has published a personal essay asking what he should teach his expected first child as artificial intelligence reshapes the value of programming, his own economically valuable skill. The essay, dated October 19, 2026, draws on Neil Postman’s 1995 book The End of Education to argue that education need not have one fixed purpose—and that parents and children can work out its goals together.
Krouse says that becoming a father has made his professional uncertainty more personal: programming, which he describes as economically valuable, feels less secure to him. He does not claim that AI has already eliminated programming jobs or that schools are about to disappear. Instead, he uses the prospect of increasingly capable AI systems to revisit a question he says he has asked before: what education is for.
He recalls predicting in 2013 that massive open online courses, or MOOCs, would upend education, a forecast he now regards as mistaken. Krouse argues that schools have persisted through earlier technological shifts, including radio, motion pictures and the internet. He points to institutions such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton, whose original religious purposes changed over time, as examples of how education can adapt while institutions endure.
The essay lists several purposes schooling has served or could serve: helping people become good people and citizens, earn a living, improve the world and learn basic facts. Krouse says he once favored “resourcefulness”—the ability to use available tools to solve problems—as a unifying goal. He now wonders whether AI agents may perform that kind of tool-based problem-solving, making other educational aims more important. His proposed alternatives include caring for the planet, taking responsibility for the American experiment, and learning to shape the tools and stories that influence society.
Education Beyond Job Preparation
Krouse’s question reflects a practical concern for families and educators: if AI changes which skills employers value, preparing students only for current jobs may be an unstable basis for education. The essay does not establish how quickly that change will happen or which occupations will be affected. It instead highlights the difficulty of using future earning power as the sole measure of a child’s education.
His discussion also separates the stated purpose of schools from the reasons they continue to function. Krouse suggests that institutional continuity can coexist with changing goals, and that schooling may retain roles beyond delivering information or training workers. His argument is a personal interpretation, not evidence that schools have settled on a new purpose in response to AI.
For parents, the immediate point is not a prescribed curriculum. Krouse favors treating children as people who can help shape their learning, rather than as objects to be trained toward a predetermined outcome. That approach leaves room for practical skills while also making space for citizenship, care for others and curiosity about how technology shapes daily life.
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Earlier Predictions About Schooling
Krouse frames his essay around Postman’s The End of Education, published in 1995. Postman examined education’s purposes and the stories that give schools meaning. Krouse also recalls a passage about historical claims that radio and recorded media would replace teachers, alongside Thomas Edison’s 1913 prediction that books would soon be obsolete in public schools and that the system would be completely changed within ten years.
Those examples support Krouse’s caution about confident forecasts of technological disruption. He says his own prediction about MOOCs did not come true, and argues that schools have adapted to new media while remaining recognizable institutions. His historical comparisons do not prove that AI will have no lasting effect; they provide a reason to distinguish changes in tools from claims that an institution will vanish.
The essay also draws on Postman’s proposals for education, which Krouse describes as “Spaceship Earth,” “The American Experiment” and “The World Makers.” These are presented as possible organizing ideas, not adopted policies or established school programs. Krouse’s conclusion is that the way adults teach and relate to children may matter as much as the subject matter.
“Books will soon be obsolete in the public schools… Our school system will be completely changed inside of ten years.”
— Thomas Edison, quoted in The New York Dramatic Mirror in 1913
AI’s Effect on Work and Schools
The essay does not quantify AI’s effect on programming, employment or school curricula, and it offers no timeline for how those fields may change. Krouse’s concern that AI could weaken the economic value of some skills is a personal assessment of a developing technology, not a finding that those skills have already lost value.
It is also unclear whether schools will change substantially in response to AI, or whether existing institutions will adapt while keeping many current practices. Krouse’s account is a reflection on possible educational goals, not a survey of teachers, parents or students and not a formal proposal for school systems.
A Family’s Education Questions
Krouse closes without offering a final curriculum or a prediction about how education will change. He says he wants to involve his child in working out the purpose of that child’s education. The next step described in the essay is therefore a conversation within his family, rather than a scheduled policy decision or institutional change.
For readers following the broader question, the essay leaves the central test open: whether schools and families will place more weight on aims such as citizenship, creativity and care as AI tools develop. Krouse’s article does not answer that question, but makes clear why he believes it is worth asking before his son begins school.
Key Questions
What is the essay’s main question?
Krouse asks what he should teach his expected son and what purpose that education should serve as AI changes how he thinks about the value of programming.
Does Krouse say AI has made programming jobs obsolete?
No. He says programming feels less valuable to him in light of recent AI advances, but the essay does not establish that programming jobs have disappeared or provide employment data.
What purposes for education does Krouse discuss?
He lists becoming a good person or citizen, earning a living, improving the world and learning basic facts. He also considers care for the planet, civic responsibility and understanding how people shape tools and narratives.
Does the essay predict that schools will disappear?
No. Krouse recalls earlier predictions about educational technology that did not quickly replace schools and argues that schools have shown staying power. He does not claim that AI will have no effect on them.
What approach does Krouse favor for his son’s education?
He proposes involving his child in deciding what the education is for, as parent and child work through that question together. The essay presents this as his personal view, not a formal curriculum.
Source: hn
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