If you have any interest in sci-fi or AI, you may have heard of the AI alignment problem. This is essentially, ensuring that an AI agent only advances the goals that the humans who deployed it intended. This concept got me thinking, how do we ensure the alignment of powerful social institutions like education?

Schools exist to provide education and prepare students for the future. Education is important for both personal and societal growth, and schools are designed to provide a structured and consistent environment for learning.

Did your school, college and university experience reflect a system with a primary goal of preparing students for the future? An easy evaluation is that for a system to optimise for the future, it should constantly be adapting to leverage the latest research and technology. If there is no evidence of adaptation, then it cannot possibly be aligned with that goal.

Hypothetically, if you were tasking with creating a two stage system.

1. Socialise childcare, freeing up parents for work.
2. Try and to get as many young people into as much debt as possible, while minimising the cost of what you provide in return.

You would end up with a pretty close version to the bloat that we all have to endure today, with slogans about “investing in your future” and “importance of education” included. While it’s obvious that education is important - this statement coming from a complete monopolistic pyramid scheme can only be there to keep feeding itself.

Revised Objectives for Schools

Optimise kids time against three objectives:

1. Independently climb blooms taxonomy
2. Clearly feedback the big problems and needs of society
3. Develop societal interface