TLDR: I am a father of two 15-year-olds. And I am angry. Not at my kids. Not at their teachers. I am angry at a system that was designed 150 years ago for the industrial revolution and has barely changed since. A system that takes the most curious, creative, capable generation in human history and puts them in rows, hands them textbooks, and tells them to memorize things an AI can look up in micro-seconds.
I recently surveyed my Moonshots community — parents, teachers, high school students, college students, and professionals — to ask a simple question: is education preparing people for the future? I concede in advance that my Moonshot listeners represent a unique and perhaps biased group. Nonetheless, what the data indicates is what I personally believe, and what many parents I know also feels in their gut.
THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN. THE NUMBERS PROVE IT.
I asked every cohort to rate how well education prepares students for the future on a scale of 1 to 10.
· Average: 4.3 out of 10.
· Teachers: 3.5 out of 10
· Parents of teens gave it a 3.8.
The people inside the system know the system is failing.
Chart 1: Average rating of how well education prepares people for the future, by cohort. Source: Moonshots Podcast Survey
TOP CONCERN ABOUT YOUR CHILD’S FUTURE?
And when I asked parents of teens about their top concerns for their child’s future, the number one answer was overwhelming:
Chart 2: Top concerns parents of teens have about their child’s future. 87% selected ‘not being prepared for an AI future.’ Source: Moonshots Podcast Survey
87% of parents said their top concern is that their kids are not being prepared for an AI future. Not bullying. Not grades. Not college admissions. AI readiness. The thing that will define their child’s economic future is the thing the school system is least equipped to teach.
IS AI BANNED IN YOUR CLASSROOM?
I asked parents of teens a direct question: is your child learning AI in school? Here is what they told me.
Chart 3: Parent responses to ‘Is your child learning AI in school?’ Source: Moonshots Podcast Survey
42% said AI is allowed but not taught. 41% said AI is banned entirely. Only 2% said AI is a core part of the curriculum. That means 83% of children are in schools where AI is either banned or simply tolerated. We are taking the most powerful technology in human history and keeping it away from the generation that needs it most. This is like banning electricity in schools in 1890.
WHAT SKILLS MATTERS MOST IN NEXT 10 YEARS?.
Here is the good news. Parents are not confused about what their kids need. When I asked parents to pick the top 4 skills that will matter most in the next 10 years, the answers were clear:
Chart 4: Skills matter most in the next 10 years. Source: Moonshots Podcast Survey
The answers are clear, and they make sense! What matters most?:
· 78% chose AI literacy.
· 72% chose critical thinking.
· 68% chose adaptability.
· 63% chose entrepreneurship.
These are not the skills being taught in school. Schools teach algebra, history, biology, and standardized test preparation. Parents want AI literacy, mindset, and entrepreneurial thinking. The gap between what schools teach and what parents know matters is the entire problem in one chart.
And when I asked parents what would make a teen program genuinely valuable, the answer was a blueprint for the future:
Chart 5: What parents say would make a program valuable. Source: Moonshots Podcast Survey
71% want AI skills. 58% want purpose and mindset development. 55% want entrepreneurship. Real-world projects. Independent thinking. The parents are telling us exactly what to build. The question is whether anyone is listening.
IS A COLLEGE DEGREE LOSING VALUE?
I asked students, teachers, and professionals whether a college degree will become less important in an AI world. 79% said yes.
Chart 6: Will a college degree become less important? Source: Moonshots Podcast Survey
45% said significantly less important. A four-year degree that costs $300K and prepares you for a job that AI will do in 2028 is not an investment. It is a liability. We need a new pathway, and we need it now.
A NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT FOR OUR KIDS
Here is what I propose. A new social contract for education built on three pillars.
First, Mindsets: The most important skill your child can develop is how to think, their Mindset – how they react to opportunities and challenges. Mindset is the operating system. Everything else is an app.
What mindsets do I teach my kids?
(1) Purpose Driven: What is something you LOVE, that actually helps humanity.
(2) Curiosity Mindset: How do you continue to learn throughout life.
(3) Abundance Mindset: Understanding that there is nothing truly scarce. That technology repeated converts scarcity into abundance.
(4) A Moonshot Mindset: The idea that AI (and soon AGI and ASI) will enable your kids to achieve their wildest dreams, 10x or 100x bigger than they ever imagined.
(5) An Exponential Mindset: Understanding that we are in the midst of the Singularity, and the rate of change is accelerating.
Second, Entrepreneurship: The traditional career ladder is becoming obsolete. 79% of parents and professionals in my survey said so. The future belongs to builders, creators, and problem-solvers. Every child should graduate knowing how to start something, sell something, and create value. Entrepreneurship is not a business class. It is a life skill.
Third, AI skills: Not coding. AI literacy. The ability to prompt, to reason with AI, to use it as a research partner, a creative collaborator, and a force multiplier. Fei-Fei Li told Andrew Huberman that Socrates was humanity’s best prompter. She is right. The Socratic method is the pedagogy for the AI age.
And the optimism is there. 84% of parents believe AI will increase human opportunity, not shrink it. 73% said AI will greatly increase opportunity. The parents are not afraid of AI. They are afraid their kids will miss it.
I have two 15-year-olds. I know the fear. I know the frustration. I know what it feels like to look at a school system and realize it was built for a world that no longer exists. But I also know this: the tools to fix this are here. AI tutors that deliver personalized education at zero cost. Online communities that connect curious kids globally. Entrepreneurship programs that teach real-world skills. The infrastructure for a new education system exists. What is missing is the will to build it.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU
If you’re a parent: Demand AI education in your school. If the school will not teach it, teach it at home. Your child’s ability to use AI will determine their economic future. Start today.
If you’re a teacher: You are not the problem. The system is. But you have the power to bring AI into your classroom anyway. Socratic prompting, AI-assisted research, project-based learning. The tools are free. Use them.
If you’re a policymaker: The ban-on-AI approach is the ban-on-calculator approach. It failed then and it will fail now. Write policy that mandates AI literacy, not AI prohibition.
If you’re an entrepreneur: The parents just told you what to build. AI skills, mindset development, entrepreneurship, real-world projects. 71% of parents want it. Build it.
If you’re a student: Do not wait for the system to catch up. Learn AI. Learn to prompt. Learn to build. Learn to think in abundance. Your education is your responsibility now. Take it.
To a future of abundance,
Peter
The calculator comparison points at something the survey can't reach. Calculators became teachable once the exam changed, and not before. Schools ban AI because the assessment still measures unaided production, so a teacher permitting it is being asked to certify work they can't attribute. That makes the 41% a rational response to the grading system rather than a failure of imagination, and it means the binding reform is at the exam board rather than in the classroom. Nobody teaches a tool the test treats as cheating.
Peter — “the people inside the system know the system is failing” stopped me. I’d add: many of them also know what better could look like. The harder question is why the system makes it so difficult for them to act on what they know.
My colleague Dave Nagel and I have spent years inside that question. Coincidentally, today we launched A Public School Manifesto—an invitation to examine public schools from the different seats of the people living in them.
I think there’s a fascinating intersection between these two conversations. I’d genuinely value your perspective.
http://publicschoolmanifesto.com/