College Should Be Way More Fun
Preview:
An Amherst professor reflects on the irreplaceable value of students wrestling with ambiguity together in a classroom, using a spirited debate over Henry James's The Turn of the Screw as a example of the kind of intellectual experience AI shortcuts can short-circuit. When a large language model can resolve a deliberately unanswerable question in seconds, something essential about the college experience is lost.
Originally published: May 23, 2026
Author: Michael A. Elliott
Position: President
Institution: Amherst College
Published by: The Atlantic