If Higher Ed Doesn't Change, Students Will - With Their Wallets

A professor's take on why academic tradition won't survive disruption

Earlier today, I responded to a post that got me thinking. (You can find it here.) The author did a solid job highlighting ways to adapt AI use in education, but what stuck with me was how much of what we call “higher ed” still feels stuck in time.

Here’s part of what I wrote in the comments:

“For the large majority of professions, traditional higher education needs a complete revamp. We can’t keep our heads in the sand... Not having students use AI is like telling them not to use the internet 30 years ago.”

I stand by that.

As a professor in healthcare, I have a little protection — most students still need to pass boards and licensure exams, which keep our assessments relatively grounded in proctored exams and oral presentations. But the moment we assign a project or paper, AI is in the room whether we acknowledge it or not.

And that’s the disconnect. Educators who act like AI is some futuristic add-on rather than the default tool students are already using — they’re missing the point. Completely.

We’ve passed the stage of “Should students use AI?” and are squarely in the territory of “Can they use it well?”

Because the world is already adapting.

The Washington Post recently ran a piece warning that AI is replacing many entry-level, white-collar roles, and if colleges don't evolve with it, they'll be pumping out grads for jobs that no longer exist https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/08/ai-entry-level-jobs-talent/?utm_source=chatgpt.com.

The Learning Policy Institute flat-out says we need to redesign education from the ground up, focusing less on rote memorization and more on real-world application, project-based learning, and digital literacy (https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/blog/educating-ai-era-urgent-need-redesign-schools).

Deloitte released a full breakdown of how universities can systematically implement AI, not just in student learning but in faculty workflows and curriculum redesign (https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-zone3/us/en/docs/services/consulting/2024/oncloud-how-higher-ed-is-using-AI-to-innovate-for-growth.pdf).

So yeah, we’re not just talking about AI being the calculator in the backpack — we’re talking about an entire shift in how people learn, work, and prove value.

I’ve got a doctorate. And frankly, unless you’re aiming to be a physician or work in a hard science lab, I’d have a hard time recommending a PhD right now. It takes 10,000 hours, and most of that could be spent learning how to build something useful, scalable, and relevant with AI. Especially if the alternative is going into debt to write papers that a well-prompted chatbot could draft in 12 seconds.

Let’s get real.

Students don’t just need to know things. They need to build, test, and apply. And if we as educators aren’t helping them do that — using the best tools available — then we’re failing them.

We don’t need to panic. But we do need to pivot.

Start with AI literacy.
- Use more oral or in-person assessments.
- Push students to create, not just consume.
- And above all, don’t underestimate what 10,000 hours of self-guided learning + curiosity + the right tools can do.

Stay curious. Stay flexible. Stay human.

– Dr. D