The debate over how AI will impact higher education has narrowed into a single and well-worn groove: in a world where machines can think, how do we make sure students still learn to think?
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students → impact → world
This is an important question, but this debate is based on a faulty assumption that the only purpose of college is to develop intelligence.
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purpose → base → intelligence
Missing from the debate are the unique human qualities that really do define us, such as curiosity, the search for meaning, and inner growth.
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that → miss → meaning
These aren’t extracurriculars—they’re a core part of what true education is about.
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education → they’re → what
Universities are now forced to ask what should define higher education: information or formation?
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what → force → information
The word “education” descends from the Latin educare—to nourish, to bring out.
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education → descend → educare
Education, at its root, was never only about filling a mind with information.
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Education → fill → information
It was about drawing out and nourishing all the unique qualities that define us.
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that → draw → us
From their medieval origins, universities understood their mission as being the formation of the whole person, what 13th-century theologian Thomas Aquinas called capax universi.
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Aquinas → understand → what
But over the years, the ambition of the university has been narrowed, and the most essential questions about the meaning of life have been expelled from the classroom.
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questions → narrow → classroom
Some see AI as a threat to be managed.
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Some → see → threat
I would counter that it is precipitating a pivotal opportunity to reinvent higher education and embrace the broader scope it once had.
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it → counter → scope
When we have a technology that can give instant answers to any question, the questions take on more importance.
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questions → have → importance
We’re born naturally curious.
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We → bear → ?
As Aristotle put it, “all men by nature desire to know.”
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men → put → nature
One study found that pre-school children ask about 100 questions a day.
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children → find → questions
But that plummets as they get older, roughly disappearing by middle school.
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they → plummet → school
Even though curiosity is one of our defining qualities—and one that AI can’t replicate—it’s an aptitude that grows the more we use it.
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we → define → it
The point isn’t just in seeking answers, but in seeking growth and expansion.
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point → seek → growth
Curiosity is the precursor to both questions and the wisdom that follows.
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that → follow → questions
With AI, the danger is not just outsourcing the task of finding answers but in generating the questions altogether.
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danger → outsource → questions
The friction of sitting with mystery, puzzling through ambiguity and complexity, can be waved away with a prompt.
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friction → sit → prompt
Offloading cognition can lead to offloading the appetite for wonder.
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Offloading → offload → wonder
In the age of AI, the capacity not just to ask questions but to want to ask questions is a core skill to teach.
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capacity → ask → questions
So how could a university do that?
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university → do → that
One way: make question-asking, instead of answer-giving, the explicit goal of a course.
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asking → make → course
It could be a first-year seminar built entirely around inquiry.
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It → build → inquiry
The students could be graded on the quality of the questions they learn to pose—not the answers.
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they → grade → questions
Another: a "follow the question" requirement, which is the converse of a thesis.
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which → follow → thesis
Here, students could choose a question when they arrive at campus and pursue it across all their time at the university.
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they → choose → university
What makes for a good life?
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What → make → life
Students could examine the question through the different lenses of their different courses: through science, art, literature, etc.
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Students → examine → science
There’s no final answer, but rather an accounting of how the question deepened, or changed, or impacted the student’s thinking and growth.
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question → ’ → thinking
Meaning and purpose
To help students find the meaning and purpose they’re seeking as they come into university life, it is essential that schools support students' desire to define meaning.
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schools → help → meaning
This is the opportunity AI presents universities with: to meet the longing of students who arrive on campus hungry for meaning, purpose, and something larger than themselves—and at the very moment in their lives when it matters most.
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it → present → lives
One way to do this is to build meaning and purpose into the vocational core.
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way → do → core
In a study by Stanford’s William Damon, he found that over half of the students were in college to find purpose, not just to be trained to make a living.
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half → find → living
And yet he also found that most colleges weren’t providing resources to help students find their purpose.
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students → find → purpose
So career advising could be reframed around purpose and calling—not just credentials and salary.
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advising → reframe → purpose
Damon recommends hands-on learning, often through volunteering that connects students’ passions to the real world, and providing mentors or “spark coaches.”
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that → recommend → mentors
…and 5 more, not listed.
