AI has proven to be an immensely powerful tool for improving productivity; however, it should not be seen as a replacement for human skill, but instead as a complement to it.

“Although the task force [is] currently done, I would argue that students probably don’t feel like it’s the end. In this whole attack on higher education, which happened to be coinciding with this proposed task force — whether or not those are connected, I can’t say — it’s a scary time to be a student,” Scott said. 

Over the summer, WashU announced that it will be discontinuing its teacher education program for all students matriculating in Fall 2025 and beyond. The Teacher Education program, which is housed in the education department but is separate from the more popular Educational Studies major, has struggled with dwindling enrollment and the high cost of hiring adjunct faculty members to teach specialized courses.

Four members of the seven-person task force resigned from their roles Monday night. 

The Student Life Editorial staff believes that these six departments — and their academic independence — are imperative to the WashU community, especially given the Trump administration’s attacks on academic freedom, marginalized communities, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). As such, we are skeptical of the University’s stated intentions due to their lack of transparency in this process so far.

With the current unbelievably rapid pace of development in AI technology, it is theoretically possible to go through your entire college experience without challenging yourself intellectually. However, if you choose to pursue education in this purely transactional fashion, you deny yourself the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for college to be a truly transformative experience.

Yet at the moment when the nation needs quality teachers most, WashU has chosen to eliminate its teacher education program. In an August email, the Education Department at WashU informed students that, “due to ongoing challenges and budgetary constraints,” the department will be discontinuing its teacher education programs for students entering WashU in fall 2025 and beyond.

WashU’s College of Arts & Sciences is forming a new task force to consider the reorganization or combination of what are currently six separate departments: African and African American Studies (AFAS); Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS); Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies (JIMES); Education; Global Studies; and American Culture Studies (AMCS). 

We were all kids once. We are still the same people we were back then, no matter how much our personalities, capabilities, and preferences have changed.

Rather than taking on one mindset or the other, we should take a balanced approach. Instead of striving to be exceptional at everything, we should pick and choose our battles. We can do our best to prioritize our studies and work, but not so much that we sacrifice the things that sustain and inspire us. Working hard should not come at the expense of learning and trying new things.