Susan Wojcicki argues the underrepresentation of women in tech starts long before college. By making coding a mandatory subject for all middle schoolers, like math or reading, it normalizes the skill and creates a universal baseline of knowledge. This prevents it from becoming an elective that primarily attracts students already inclined towards it.

Under David Coleman's leadership, the SAT eliminated purely verbal reading sections by mandating quantitative passages from science and social science that include charts and data tables. Coleman argues that students who cannot interpret graphical and numerical data are functionally illiterate in modern scientific and civic discourse, ending the era where students could score top marks in reading while actively avoiding numbers.

Instead of banning AI tools, educators should escalate the difficulty of problems to a level where students are forced to leverage AI to solve them. This approach pushes students beyond rote memorization into tackling challenges that were previously unsolvable.

College Board surveys revealed a fundamental disconnect between educators: high school math teachers believe every topic matters and race through broad curricula, whereas college professors prioritize deep fluency in very few core concepts. College professors emphasize that students need absolute command over basic arithmetic, fractions, rates, proportions, and linear equations, noting that deficiencies in these foundations cannot be easily remedied in college courses.

Instead of teaching decision-making in isolation, education should integrate skills like counterfactual thinking directly into core subjects. Analyzing literature by asking, "What if Macbeth had chosen a different option?" makes the material more engaging and teaches critical thinking simultaneously.

Scaling high school data education does not require an immediate, massive retraining of teachers to become expert statisticians. David Coleman emphasizes that education is often most engaging when the instructor learns alongside their students. Structuring courses around active inquiry and collaborative experimentation allows teachers and students to discover analytical insights together without requiring years of prior statistical expertise.

The most powerful selling point for an EdTech platform to school districts is not just student test prep. It's the aggregated data that provides administrators with a diagnostic tool, revealing underlying misconceptions and systemic gaps in their curriculum that need to be addressed.

To remain relevant, universities need a radical overhaul. Economist Tyler Cowen suggests dedicating one-third of higher education to teaching students how to use AI. The remaining two-thirds should focus on fundamental skills like in-person writing instruction and practical life skills like personal finance.

When economist and former teacher Sally Sadoff tasked ninth graders with collecting real-world data and computing linear regressions, previously disengaged students excelled by investigating topics tied to their personal identities. Allowing students to collect and analyze data relevant to their own lives bridges the gap between abstract mathematical procedures and practical utility, sparking genuine student engagement.