The question facing parents today is no longer simply, “What career should my child choose?” but “What kind of education will prepare them for a world we cannot yet predict?”

As artificial intelligence changes how we learn and work, it is difficult to know which jobs or technical skills will remain valuable throughout a child’s working life. For parents and educators, this makes a broad education, independent thinking and the ability to keep learning especially important.

Preparing children for a future shaped by AI

In What Should My Children Do? How to Flourish in the Age of AI, economist Daniel Susskind explores how young people can prepare for a changing world. His argument includes strengthening foundational skills, developing attention and learning to use AI without allowing other essential abilities to erode.

Education remains essential. Rather than focusing too narrowly on “futureproofing” children for a particular career, we should give them the foundations to adapt, learn and flourish as the world changes.

Literacy, numeracy, concentration, communication and the ability to reason all matter. They help young people understand unfamiliar ideas, express themselves clearly and make informed decisions, whatever direction their lives take.

Why critical thinking matters more than ever

If AI can increasingly produce answers, write essays, generate images and analyse information, our children need to become skilled at judging the information they receive.

They need to learn to ask:

• How do we know this is true?

• What evidence supports it?

• What assumptions are being made?

• Could there be another explanation?

These questions are relevant across education and everyday life. Whether teenagers are reading a news story, interpreting research or considering an answer generated by AI, they need to distinguish evidence from opinion and recognise when further investigation is needed.

Developing this judgement takes practice. It requires opportunities to discuss ideas, examine different perspectives and explain why a conclusion is convincing—or why it might need to be reconsidered.

Learning to use AI without becoming dependent on it

Susskind sees potential for AI to support education through personalised learning and tutoring. He also advocates teaching and assessing young people both with and without AI, so they develop technological competence alongside independent understanding.

There is value in having to read deeply, work through a difficult problem, concentrate and construct an argument of your own. These experiences help students develop the understanding they need to evaluate what technology produces.

The goal should be to teach children to use AI intelligently, as a tool that extends their thinking. Alongside this, they need time and space to develop ideas themselves, make mistakes and learn from the process.

Asking different questions about the future

Perhaps, then, we should broaden the questions we ask young people.

Alongside “What do you want to be?”, we can ask:

“What are you curious about?”

“What problems would you like to solve?”

“What do you want to understand?”

These questions give teenagers permission to explore before deciding on a particular path. They encourage them to connect learning with interests, values and meaningful challenges.

An interest in science might lead towards medicine, research or an entirely different field. A love of languages might open opportunities in business, culture or international relationships. Young people do not need to know every destination before they begin exploring.

Education beyond the classroom

At the International Summer School for Teens (ISSFT), we believe that education happens both inside and outside the classroom.

Travel, meeting people from different cultures and experiencing unfamiliar places can be valuable opportunities to develop the skills young people will need throughout their lives.

Being somewhere new challenges us to adapt, communicate with people who think or speak differently from us, navigate unfamiliar situations and step outside our comfort zone. It creates opportunities to develop confidence, independence, empathy and communication.

These experiences also give classroom learning a wider context. History becomes more tangible when we visit a historic place. Language becomes meaningful when it helps us build a friendship. Different perspectives become easier to understand when we spend time with people whose experiences differ from our own.

How an international summer school can broaden teenagers’ horizons

ISSFT’s residential summer programmes in Oxford and St Andrews combine one academic subject with one elective, alongside cultural excursions, sports and a busy social programme. Students learn within an international community, supported by 24/7 supervision.

This combination gives teenagers opportunities to explore interests while practising the skills that connect learning with everyday life.

A shared project can require students to listen, explain their ideas and work towards a common goal. A conversation with a new friend can introduce an unfamiliar viewpoint. Living away from home within a supportive environment gives them opportunities to take responsibility and grow in confidence.

These experiences complement academic study by encouraging young people to apply what they know, remain open to new ideas and learn from one another.

A broad education for an unpredictable world

Alongside science, mathematics and technology, children need opportunities to experience history, literature, languages, art, different cultures and the wider world.

A broad education gives them more ways to understand what they encounter. It also helps them discover what interests them, what matters to them and where they might want to contribute.

We cannot predict exactly what work will look like when today’s children become adults. But we can help them become curious, adaptable and intellectually confident people who distinguish evidence from opinion, communicate with others and use technology without becoming dependent upon it.

Perhaps the most future-proof education is not one that teaches children exactly what to think, but one that teaches them how to think—and gives them enough experience of the world to discover what is worth thinking about.

Explore ISSFT’s residential summer programmes in Oxford and St Andrews.

Explore ISSFT’s residential summer programmes in Oxford and St Andrews.