Empowering students with agency is a core principle at Alpha High School. The students actively participate in the selection process for their adult "guides" and have successfully had guides removed who weren't meeting their needs, ensuring accountability and a better fit.
Many in Gen Z are pessimistic about AI, citing environmental impact and job uncertainty as primary concerns. Despite this negative outlook, a large majority still use AI tools daily for tasks ranging from schoolwork to companionship.
The path to an in-person date for Gen Z is a structured, multi-platform digital sequence. It begins with exchanging Snapchats for sending pictures, escalates to text chats, then to voice calls and FaceTime, with a physical meeting being the final step.
For information-driven reading, some Gen Z members prefer interacting with AI over reading a book. They view books as static, non-generative sources of knowledge and use AI chatbots to summarize, expand upon, and dynamically engage with the content.
A student is developing "Barry," an AI stuffed animal aimed at teenagers. It serves as a companion for discussing daily problems, with the goal of building self-awareness rather than creating dependency. This product targets the intersection of teen mental health and AI companionship.
Alpha School's learning platform utilizes mastery-based learning. Students take AI-driven quizzes and must achieve an 80% score to be considered proficient and move on, ensuring comprehension and filling knowledge gaps before they become problematic.
Alpha High School uses an AI-powered platform for all academic content. This frees up human staff, now called "guides," to focus exclusively on student motivation, emotional support, and goal setting, rather than on content delivery or administrative tasks.
Despite achieving significant career success and financial independence in high school, top-performing Gen Z students are still opting for elite universities. The primary motivation isn't career advancement but the desire for a traditional social college experience with friends and parties.
A core part of the Alpha curriculum is the "Alpha X project," where students work to become the best in the world in a chosen field. This often manifests as building a startup, becoming a top influencer, or creating a large-scale artistic work while still in high school.