Bill Ackman’s Alpha School: No to DEI, yes to AI

Billionaire Bill Ackman has a new fascination: a fast-growing private school that eschews lessons on diversity, equity and inclusion and uses artificial intelligence to speed-teach children in two hours.

Alpha School, which calls its teachers “guides,” says it uses AI-enabled software to help students complete core subjects in just two hours daily. It claims students learn twice as much as those in traditional schools despite the condensed days.

The schedule allows students to do hands-on activities in the afternoon, which the school says help them build life skills. These include 5-mile bike rides “without stopping” for kindergartners, and exploring personal hobbies through AI-generated plans.

Related on the SLP

Women’s colleges considering policy changes that redefine ‘gender’ Supreme Court sides with conservatives, requires schools to automatically notify parents if their children identify as transgender

Viewpoint: Dubious environmental fears: Why the AI buildout is critical to America’s ecological future

Vitamin D, omega-3 fish oil and glucosamine supplements could cause brain damage 

Child-monitoring apps: When the cure is worse than the harm—and how the technology could be tweaked

The school also strives to keep the hot-button social issues that have divided grade schools and colleges across the country out of its classrooms entirely, co-founder MacKenzie Price said in an interview.

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here