Almost coincidentally, while I was writing on the topic “Gen Z Kids: Fast Growth, No Tough Skin, and No Long Lifespan,” my daughter, who is in JSS1, approached me and asked to use my phone. She wanted to oppose the motion, “Educating a Girl Child is a Wasted Investment,” in an argumentative essay and debate.
Curious, I asked why she needed my phone. She explained that she wanted to expand her essay with more points because she could not find the topic in any of the textbooks she had.
I told her to keep thinking, reflecting, questioning, and searching her mind for new ideas until she had exhausted every point she could possibly think of.
She looked at me and exclaimed, “Oh, Daddy!”
I smiled and said, “Do not always worry about those who score higher marks than you because they use AI for their assignments. Do not be afraid to fail when your greatest effort and deepest thinking come from you. The assignment was not given merely to produce an answer. It was given to teach you how to think, stretch your brain, brainstorm, reflect, and engage your mind.”
While I agreed that AI could help expand her points and expose her to broader perspectives, I reminded her that she must never relegate her thinking to a machine that she runs to whenever she encounters a problem. Such dependence, if unchecked, can gradually erode self-confidence and weaken the belief that she can solve problems through her own reasoning and intellectual effort.
Educational psychologist Jean Piaget argued that learning is not simply the acquisition of information but the active construction of knowledge through thinking, reflection, and interaction with one’s environment. In the same spirit, the renowned philosopher John Dewey maintained that education is not preparation for life; education itself is life. Learning, therefore, is not merely about finding answers but about cultivating the capacity to think independently.
Many students do not realize that one of the fundamental purposes of schooling is to teach people how to think and where to find information when they need it. Therefore, while tools and machines can enrich an essay, every assignment is also designed to test reasoning, sharpen judgment, strengthen confidence, and develop intellectual skills.
Research in cognitive psychology consistently suggests that deep learning occurs when learners actively struggle with ideas before receiving assistance. Studies on what scholars call “productive struggle” indicate that students retain knowledge longer and develop stronger problem-solving abilities when they wrestle with questions independently before seeking help. The difficulty itself is often part of the learning process.
That is why I am always proud when I see you draw something that looks rough, write English that appears unpolished, or make a sincere effort that still earns average marks provided the work genuinely comes from you. That effort is what matters most to me.
If you constantly delegate your thinking to tools and aids, you may never realize that many of the questions you are asked are actually about things you already experience every day. They are opportunities to share your own ideas, insights, convictions, and understanding of the world. Even when others disagree with you, you possess a unique perspective, an independent mind, and the capacity to reason differently and reflect beyond convention.
Ironically, you may discover that everyone begins sounding the same because they all consulted the same machine. The same arguments, the same examples, the same structure, and often the same conclusions. Yet genuine creativity emerges when personal insight blends with knowledge. Original thought remains one of the few things that cannot be mass-produced.
You need your own ideas, your own uniqueness, your own convictions, and your own perspective to enrich your work with creativity and depth. These qualities cannot always be downloaded, copied, or generated on demand.
I am perfectly comfortable if you are an average student, a beginner, or even make mistakes, as long as you genuinely attempt to do your schoolwork yourself and use AI only as a guide after you have exhausted your own reflection.
Besides, when you write something yourself, you flow naturally with it. The ideas become yours. You remember them more easily, explain them more confidently, and present them more comfortably because they emerged from your own understanding.
Thinking is learning. It is one of the defining characteristics of humanity. Critical thinking does not arrive naturally; it is learned, cultivated, and strengthened through continuous practice. Virtually every achievement of civilization, every invention, discovery, institution, and technological breakthrough, is a product of human beings thinking deeply about problems and searching for solutions.
This brings to mind an old Chinese proverb: “Good thinking, good products.” Though simple, it captures a profound truth. The quality of what we produce often reflects the quality of our thinking.
The puzzles, poems, riddles, essays, and mathematics problems that students encounter are not merely academic exercises. They are intellectual training grounds designed to develop the brain. Efficiency, speed, creativity, and mastery do not emerge from shortcuts; they arise from repeated practice, experience, reflection, and disciplined thinking.
Modern educational theorists often refer to this as constructivism, the idea that learners build knowledge through active mental engagement rather than passive reception. The more we think, question, analyze, and solve problems ourselves, the stronger our intellectual muscles become.
Perhaps this is why I remain cautious whenever people predict that artificial intelligence will replace textbooks, teachers, or even thinking itself. AI can provide information. It can suggest ideas. It can organize knowledge. But it cannot replace the transformative process that occurs when a young mind struggles, reflects, questions, doubts, discovers, and finally arrives at understanding.
That, to me, remains the essence of education.
And that was the conversation with my daughter.
Bagudu Mohammed
bagudumohammed15197@gmail.com
