From Ann Ahn’s Desk
Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of the educational landscape. Schools across the country are developing AI guidelines, teachers are exploring new AI-powered tools, and students are increasingly using AI in their daily academic lives. The question is no longer whether AI will be present in education. The question is how we can ensure that it supports learning rather than replaces it.
A recent article by Norman Eng in Education Week explores this challenge. Drawing on emerging research, Eng points out that while AI can boost student performance in the short term, those gains may diminish when students must demonstrate their knowledge independently. The findings raise an important concern: when technology removes too much of the productive struggle from learning, students may produce stronger outputs without developing stronger understanding.
This observation resonates deeply with me. As educators, parents, and students navigate the age of AI, we must remember a fundamental truth: Durable learning requires productive struggle.
Learning is strengthened when students confront challenges, grapple with uncertainty, make mistakes, receive feedback, and try again. These experiences are often uncomfortable, yet they are the very processes that build knowledge, confidence, and long-term academic growth. AI can be a useful tool. However, when it completes the thinking, writing, analyzing, or problem-solving on behalf of the student, it may bypass the mental effort that creates real learning.
For this reason, I believe the most important educational question today is not whether students use AI.
It is whether students are still learning to think independently.
My Perspective: The Future of Testing Will Measure Productive Struggle
One idea from Norman Eng’s article particularly stood out to me. Research consistently identifies productive struggle, independent reasoning, knowledge application, and meaningful cognitive effort as essential ingredients for lasting learning. I believe these same qualities will increasingly define the future of standardized testing. As AI becomes more capable of generating answers, solving routine problems, and producing polished work, assessment systems will continue evolving to measure what technology cannot easily replace. Future SATs, ACTs, selective school admissions tests, and college assessments will likely place even greater emphasis on a student’s ability to:
| Apply knowledge in unfamiliar situations |
| Think critically under pressure |
| Adapt to new problems |
| Defend reasoning with evidence |
| Make sound judgments independently |
| Persist through uncertainty and difficulty |
In short, students will increasingly be evaluated on their capacity for productive struggle. This shift is already underway. The most challenging questions on today’s admissions tests rarely reward memorization alone. Instead, they require students to synthesize information, recognize patterns, transfer knowledge, analyze evidence, and solve unfamiliar problems.
Students must think.
Students must adapt.
Students must persevere.
These skills cannot be developed through shortcuts. They are developed through struggle.
Why This Matters at MEK
At MEK, we have never viewed struggle as something to eliminate. Instead, we view it as an essential part of growth. In today’s world, students often feel pressure to find answers quickly. Technology has made information more accessible than ever before. Yet access to information is not the same as understanding. Real learning happens when students engage deeply with difficult tasks. A student who revises an essay multiple times develops stronger writing skills than a student who accepts an instant AI-generated draft. A student who works through a challenging math problem develops stronger reasoning skills than a student who immediately receives a complete solution. A student who learns to recover from mistakes develops confidence and resilience that extend far beyond a single test.
These outcomes take time. There are no shortcuts to genuine mastery. As educators, our role is not to remove every obstacle from a student’s path. Our role is to guide students through those obstacles until they gain the confidence and ability to overcome them independently.
The MEK Way
At MEK, we welcome technology as a tool. We are not opposed to AI, nor do we believe students should ignore it.
However, technology should support learning rather than replace the learning process itself.
That is why our educational philosophy continues to emphasize:
| Deep understanding over quick answers |
| Independent thinking over dependency |
| Persistence over convenience |
| Meaningful practice over shortcuts |
| Long-term growth over immediate results |
The rewards are not always instant. Yet they are powerful and lasting. As AI becomes a permanent part of education, students who develop endurance, resilience, critical thinking, and the ability to navigate productive struggle will be best positioned for success in school, on future assessments, in college, and throughout their lives. That is why we remain committed to helping students embrace challenge rather than avoid it. Because ultimately, the future does not belong to the students who can access answers the fastest.
It belongs to the students who can think independently, persist through difficulty, and learn from productive struggle.
That is our strategy.
That is the MEK way.
Reference
Eng, N. (2026, August). 4 questions we must answer before brining AI into the classroom. Education Week, Vol. 46, Issue 1.
