Appreciate this analysis and largely concur. Thank you. Two points of evidence you cite I think are worth closer scrutiny. 1) Sal Kahn folded the tent on Khanmigo tutoring, admitting no impact at scale and that it’s worth “investing in human systems.” 2) Alpha School reality departs from rosy investor and media farming story in a 404 media piece. Taken together and with other evidence, the idea that AI tutoring alone will move the needle seems hard to swallow. Absent sustained engagement it doesn’t matter how great your edtech tool is. Ask Sal. That doesn’t mean the bottom branch of the K shaped education system won’t gravitate towards their use. That seems inevitable.
On Sal Khan and Khanmigo: I missed that he's been candid about adoption-at-scale/not matching the tutoring-quality promise, that's a meaningful walk-back from the early Khanmigo marketing (and something I had completely missed!). That's my bad.
On Alpha School: 404 Media's critical reporting has named the gap between the marketing claims and the on-the-ground reality. The "5th graders completing 8th-grade material" claim is from internal Alpha School reporting, which is exactly the self-reported-and-not-independently-validated category I tried to flag with Math Academy. Same caveat here, and a fair correction.
And of course, you're right, without sustained student engagement, the best edtech tool is just expensive software. The cognitive offloading paragraph was reaching for this but didn't connect it back to the Khanmigo or Alpha School stories directly.
The K-shaped concern--yep. Wealthier students get human tutors AND AI tutors (AND, AND...) as supplements. Lower-income students get AI alone, often without the engagement scaffolding that makes it work. That's the inequality story the AI optimism narrative consistently underweights...
Appreciate this analysis and largely concur. Thank you. Two points of evidence you cite I think are worth closer scrutiny. 1) Sal Kahn folded the tent on Khanmigo tutoring, admitting no impact at scale and that it’s worth “investing in human systems.” 2) Alpha School reality departs from rosy investor and media farming story in a 404 media piece. Taken together and with other evidence, the idea that AI tutoring alone will move the needle seems hard to swallow. Absent sustained engagement it doesn’t matter how great your edtech tool is. Ask Sal. That doesn’t mean the bottom branch of the K shaped education system won’t gravitate towards their use. That seems inevitable.
Cheers...
On Sal Khan and Khanmigo: I missed that he's been candid about adoption-at-scale/not matching the tutoring-quality promise, that's a meaningful walk-back from the early Khanmigo marketing (and something I had completely missed!). That's my bad.
On Alpha School: 404 Media's critical reporting has named the gap between the marketing claims and the on-the-ground reality. The "5th graders completing 8th-grade material" claim is from internal Alpha School reporting, which is exactly the self-reported-and-not-independently-validated category I tried to flag with Math Academy. Same caveat here, and a fair correction.
And of course, you're right, without sustained student engagement, the best edtech tool is just expensive software. The cognitive offloading paragraph was reaching for this but didn't connect it back to the Khanmigo or Alpha School stories directly.
The K-shaped concern--yep. Wealthier students get human tutors AND AI tutors (AND, AND...) as supplements. Lower-income students get AI alone, often without the engagement scaffolding that makes it work. That's the inequality story the AI optimism narrative consistently underweights...
Thanks for the pushback.