Austin Scholar #176: Debunking the biggest myths about Alpha
& responding to the New York Times article
Hey, y'all!
This week from Austin Scholar...
Debunking the biggest myths about Alpha
Scholar’s Sources: What I’ve been thinking about…
Honestly not all that much has changed in my life since the last update, but I’ve had a fantastic week. I’ve started working at my favorite bookstore, Book People, eating pumpkin bread at its coffee shop while blasting the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack. How fun is that? I also did puppy yoga yesterday, which is quite possibly my new favorite activity.
On another note, I’ve been planning a bit of a rebrand for my newsletter, along with some upgrades to the paid subscription, so watch out for that! I’m super excited to continue writing and providing insights for you and your family during this next school year and hope y’all are excited for the Austin Scholar revamp!
Debunking the biggest myths about Alpha
Alpha has been getting a ton of press recently.
From the Astral Codex article that circled through the education world to the New York Times article published just last week, a lot of people have a lot to say about Alpha. And the reason is obvious: the Alpha philosophy is so radically different from anything they’ve ever experienced or thought about. No one has educated students like this before.
However, the same things that make Alpha's new model so compelling also create massive confusion. Under all of those articles are hundreds of comments from people who object to the idea. They think Alpha students are stuck doing Zoom school with robots, getting no face time with real humans and riding manipulated data about their performance.
To me, it sounds like those comments are coming from people who haven't fundamentally grasped what, exactly, Alpha is – because none of that is true.
This miscommunication in messaging is something that Alpha absolutely needs to improve on, but I hope I can help clear up some of the most common myths about Alpha and its approach that I’ve seen repeatedly in the ~650 hate comments under the New York Times article.
The Objection: Students are on computers all day and don’t interact with other humans
The Reality: People hear AI tutors and think “robot terminators” and “no adult humans.” The reality is the opposite. Alpha has more social interaction and connection than any other school I’ve heard of. Alpha also has adults – they’re called “guides” rather than academic teachers and their job is to provide motivational and emotional support to the students.
Remember, standard school has students sitting in classrooms doing academics for six hours per day, maybe occasionally working on a group project or discussing a concept with fellow students. That’s no socialization utopia.
Meanwhile, Alpha students only spend two hours per day doing academic work on their computers. The other four hours are filled with life skills workshops where students learn how to work on a team, be a leader, speak in public, think like an entrepreneur, have grit, and embody a litany of other skills. Not only do these workshops teach life skills, but they also connect the students, since they often involve a social component.
Throughout the entire day, the guides serve as an incredible support system for the students. Instead of designing academic lessons, the guides spend their time creating motivational plans and finding ways to connect with and motivate each student to do their best.
The Objection: Alpha uses AI chatbots to educate kids
The Reality: Alpha agrees that AI chatbots are terrible. No part of its programming uses chatbots to educate students. The reality is that 90% of kids who have ChatGPT use it to cheat – and the point of Alpha isn’t cheating for the test scores, it’s actual mastery of knowledge. So if Alpha doesn’t use chatbots, what AI does it use?