The education system has been optimizing for grades for a long time. Dr. Perry Adler says AI just made the shortcut obvious.

His framework is clear: critical thinking is the ability to slow down, consider multiple angles, apply logic and reasoning, and work through a problem rather than around it. Social media and AI both accelerate in the opposite direction. A student who prompts AI for an essay and submits it has followed the system’s logic perfectly and learned almost nothing.

Dr. Perry Adler trains psychotherapy interns the other way. He does not want technicians who know the steps. He wants thinkers who understand why the steps work and when they might not. He says the same standard belongs in every classroom, and that it will not arrive until the reward structure changes to match it. The oral exam, defending your own work in person, is where he thinks the conversation should start.

Topics: critical thinking kids, AI in education, performance vs learning, cognitive skills erosion, humanexus

GUEST: Dr. Perry Adler | http://humanexus.ca

Originally aired on2026-05-05