The conversation regarding higher education has been all doom and gloom from the general public. Critics point out that many campuses have devolved into ideological echo chambers, where free expression is stifled and the fear of being “canceled” keeps students quiet.
Simultaneously, the academic world has been panic-stricken over artificial intelligence. Since the arrival of advanced generative AI, administrators have feared for the future of higher education. Essays have become obsolete, as students can now ask a chatbot to write a perfectly edited 12-page paper on the French Revolution in under 10 seconds.
How are professors supposed to measure what a student learned and retained?
At first glance, these seem like two distinct crises. One of free speech and one of academic integrity. But there is a fascinating positive dynamic unfolding. Universities are looking to solve the crisis of AI, and it is actually forcing them to solve the crisis of free expression.
Because written assignments can no longer be trusted, higher education is being forced to return to the oldest and most human method of learning in history, the Socratic method. Across the country, professors are discovering the best way to prove a student has absorbed the material is by asking them to explain it verbally. We are seeing a massive resurgence in oral exams, live debates, and classroom dialogue.
AI is unable to help you fake your way through an oral defense. When asked to defend their argument in real time, they have to rely on their own intellect and preparation.
This shift back to face-to-face dialogue is disruptive to the culture of indoctrination. Education that simply requires students to write an essay that only professors will read, it is very easy for a student to simply regurgitate the professor’s ideological beliefs to secure a good grade. It is purely transactional, lacking any form of engagement.
But an education that requires students to articulate their own thoughts out loud, defend unexpected questions, and debate their peers and professors, the entire learning process shifts. These types of environments force students to take ownership of their ideas. Now students are obligated to think critically, instead of copying and pasting whatever is politically correct.
The current news cycle shows you a fearful political Left. We hear calls for increased regulations and demands for tech CEOs to slow down the pace of AI innovation. While framed as caution, this fear stems from the deeper realization that the introduction of AI is stripping the Left of its ability to maintain control over the indoctrination mechanism of the higher education establishment.
This resurgence of oral debate places a massive responsibility squarely on the shoulders of university administrators and faculty.
If higher education is moving toward a more Socratic method of education, then we must guarantee that the classroom is a safe space for all types of thought. You cannot force students to engage in debate if they sense their opinion will be “wrong” simply because it is not the popular opinion. If having those opinions results in lower grades or social ostracization, AI was not the biggest problem at that university.
Higher education has spent the majority of the 21st century allowing a culture of censorship to fester, allowing the loudest, most radical voices on campus to dictate what can and cannot be said. But if AI forces us to return to the Socratic method, censorship must end.
Administrators and professors need to create an environment where students feel secure enough to express dissenting opinions verbally without facing repercussions. The classroom has to once again become a sanctuary for the free exchange of ideas, where arguments are defeated by better arguments, not censorship. True learning demands friction, and friction requires the freedom to disagree.
For all the anxiety surrounding AI, it may turn out to be the catalyst universities needed. AI is stripping away the illusion of passive learning. It is forcing students to look up from their screens and defend what they believe.
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If universities rise to the occasion and fiercely protect the freedom of speech necessary for this style of education, AI will not be the death of higher education.
It will be its resurrection.
Dr. Kent Ingle is president of Southeastern University.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
