Artificial intelligence is moving into American classrooms faster than the rules that govern it, and educators are now wrestling with a central question: how do you teach students to use the technology without letting it do the thinking for them? The debate has shifted from whether AI belongs in schools to how it should be supervised, as districts experiment with tools that can write essays, solve equations, and summarize entire texts in seconds.
Adam Mangana, CEO of Optima, argues that banning the technology outright is the wrong approach. Optima describes itself as the world's first virtual reality school, and Mangana has built its curriculum around the idea that AI and VR belong in the classroom - with boundaries.
"Our job isn't to ban the future. It's to master it responsibly," Mangana said.
Passive consumption is the real risk
Mangana said he understands why parents worry about more screen time. The concern is legitimate, he said, but the technology itself is not the problem.
"Parent anxiety is valid," Mangana said. "The danger itself isn't the technology, but it's passive consumption."
The trouble starts when students use AI to complete assignments without engaging with the material. Mangana said that scenario - a student staring at a screen while the tool does the work - is where the real damage happens.
"When kids are staring blankly at a screen, scrolling or letting it do its homework, that's when there's a problem," he said.
The alternative, he argues, is treating AI as a tutor rather than an answer key. Used that way, the technology can push students to think harder instead of replacing the thinking altogether.
"If we can use it as something interactive, acting as a personal tutor or a Socratic guide, it can really be a force multiplier for our students," Mangana said.
Focus on process, not just answers
As AI tools make it easier to generate finished work, Mangana said teachers should shift how they evaluate students. The final product matters less than how a student arrived at it.
"That line is really drawn by focusing on the process of learning, not just the outcomes," he said.
He describes AI as a "sparring partner" for students - a tool that challenges them to develop their own answers rather than a substitute for their own thought. That distinction is central to how AI for Education is being shaped in schools, where the same tool can either deepen understanding or bypass it entirely.
"This tool can really maximize human potential when used properly as a sparring partner, not as something to replace humans," Mangana said.
Mangana also argues that AI can provide personalized instruction to students who would otherwise never have access to it. The technology is not meant to remove academic struggle, he said, but it can open doors for kids in under-resourced schools.
"Technology is not designed to replace the struggle," Mangana said. "But it can really offer access to so many kids who've never had the opportunity for kind of hyper-personalization in their learning."
Virtual reality with guardrails
Optima's approach extends beyond traditional screens. Students use VR headsets while still learning from live teachers, which allows lessons to become immersive experiences. Instead of reading about Independence Hall, for example, students can enter a recreation of it.
"Students are able to put on a VR headset, use AI not to replace learning, but to be able to interview historical figures," Mangana said.
The goal is to turn lessons into experiences that boost engagement while keeping academic structure intact. Students already spend time in immersive digital environments through games like Roblox and Fortnite, Mangana said. The difference in a school setting is having clear rules for how those tools are used.
"There haven't been, to your point, the proper guardrails," Mangana said. "What we've done is built the guardrails to make it safe and use it for serious academic learning."
For parents worried about screen time, Mangana said schools should be able to explain exactly why they are introducing a technology and what educational purpose it serves. He pointed to Socrates' concerns about the written word as evidence that skepticism toward new tools is nothing new.
"The skepticism is healthy," Mangana said.
But he stressed that AI and VR should not become an excuse for more screen time. Teachers integrating these tools responsibly - a focus of AI for Teachers training - need to keep the emphasis on outcomes, not hours logged.
"Education shouldn't be about more screen time just for the sake of screen time," he said. "It should be about better outcomes."
Why this matters for educators
For teachers and administrators, the practical takeaway is that AI policies need to define how students use the tools, not just whether they can use them. That means building assignments around process - requiring drafts, explanations, and visible reasoning - so the technology supports learning rather than replacing it. Schools that set clear expectations for AI use now will have an easier time maintaining academic integrity as the tools become more common.
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