Arianna Rebellini on human teachers and the humanities

Thank you.

I certainly wouldn't want my kids becoming losers.

No, you don't.

I think you are learning something from our president.

I'm calling people losers.

Okay, please.

Thank you, chairs.

I'm Arianna Rebellini.

I'm a mother to a soon-to-be second grader in Queens and a writer.

And I want to speak today about...

My entire life, I've had people tell me my father changed their lives.

Carlo taught high school English for 43 impassioned years, and if there's one thing I know beyond all doubt, it is that my father loved teaching and his students loved him.

When he retired, we set up a website where former students could leave well wishes, and it was a gift to see what they had each held on to.

From high fives in the hallways to a new respect for reading.

My dad was born and raised in what he loves to call the boogie down Bronx, and rap has been a huge part of his life and syllabi.

Multiple posts shouted out Wu-Tang Wednesday and Kendrick Friday.

And I say all of this to highlight the varied and immeasurable impact of teachers.

And the incalculable losses we in our community will endure if we declare them redundant in the face of AI.

If my father changed his students'lives, it was in ways that can't be replicated by a machine.

It is something living and indelible and unpredictable.

I can't believe I need to say this, but educators should be people.

Anyone who cares about children's well-being knows that.

I know you know that.

I know the DOE knows that.

This is a disingenuous conversation.

Last year, I published a book about suicide, so I feel uniquely qualified to emphasize the dire emotional and material consequences of losing human connection.

Isolation and alienation are killing us, and I must note that black children are especially susceptible.

Chatbots, which we are already seeing being used as study guides and tutors, are certainly not helping.

Our children cannot afford to lose even one person who is invested in their future.

I want to close with one message from my father.

She wrote, your classroom is not just where I learned how to write essays or identify sentences, but it was where I learned how to be human.

So when we talk about how AI is destroying the humanities, we're describing not only academics, but more profoundly the very substance of life.

It is your responsibility to protect our children's right to both, and the moratorium will be a good start.

Thank you.

You say your dad's from the Bronx?

Yeah, he is.

Both parents.

Both parents?

Yeah.

Now you've got to tell me where in the Bronx.

Allerton Avenue was what they were near.

I was born in the Bronx, but...

You were born in the Bronx.

You know, you're welcome back anytime.

Thank you.

All right.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you to this panel.

Thank you.

Okay, I'm going to call the next panel Iman God.

Charlotte Pope.

Andrea Ortiz.

Anita Rad.

I'll let you all decide.

Fielder's choice.