How SDJA is preparing students to think critically, act ethically, and remain deeply human
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how students learn, how teachers teach, and how all of us encounter information. At San Diego Jewish Academy, we believe the question facing schools is not simply whether students should use AI. The more important question is: How do we prepare students to use these powerful tools thoughtfully, ethically, and critically—and in ways that deepen rather than diminish learning?
Educators across the country are wrestling with that question. Some argue that AI offers extraordinary opportunities to personalize learning, provide feedback, and help students explore ideas in new ways. Others caution that when students turn too quickly to AI, they may bypass the productive struggle required to develop their own voices, solve difficult problems, and think independently.
At SDJA, we see wisdom in both perspectives. AI can be an extraordinarily powerful learning tool, but efficiency is not always the goal of education. Sometimes the struggle is the learning.
That distinction is beginning to shape our approach. This year, several upper school teachers are piloting Flint K–12, an educational AI platform that provides students with scaffolded tutoring while giving teachers new tools for instructional design. At the same time, we are considering a much broader question: What should an SDJA graduate understand about artificial intelligence?
Our answer begins with something decidedly ancient: chevruta.
For centuries, Jewish learning has asked people to sit across from one another, wrestle with texts, question assumptions, defend interpretations, listen carefully, disagree respectfully, and sometimes change their minds. In an age when a machine can produce an essay, summarize an argument, or answer a question in seconds, these deeply human intellectual habits become more important, not less.
Jewish tradition also gives our students a powerful framework for examining the ethical questions AI raises. What does emet—truth—require of us in a world of deepfakes and synthetic media? What does achariyut—responsibility—mean when an AI system produces inaccurate or harmful information? How does kavod habriyot—human dignity—inform questions about bias, privacy, and the ways algorithms affect other people? Where does authenticity matter? Who is responsible when AI makes a mistake? And when should we choose human interaction even when technology offers a more efficient alternative?
These questions are at the heart of a proposed SDJA Center for AI Literacy and Jewish Ethics, which would create a coherent grades 6–12 approach to AI literacy. Students would progress from learning to recognize AI and evaluate online information in middle school to examining synthetic media, algorithms, bias, authorship, antisemitism, and ethical AI use in High School. The proposal includes a required junior-year AI Literacy & Ethics course, faculty professional development, student leadership opportunities, and an annual youth conference bringing this conversation to the broader San Diego community.
The Center would also confront a challenge of particular importance to a Jewish school: the ability of AI and social media to amplify antisemitism, fabricate images and information, perpetuate stereotypes, and distort Holocaust history. Students would learn not only to recognize misinformation, but to verify it, respond to it, and take responsibility for what they create and share.
We do not pretend to have every answer. AI will continue to change, and our approach will evolve with it. But our north star is clear. At SDJA, we want students to learn how to use artificial intelligence while strengthening the human intelligence, relationships, and ethical judgment that technology cannot replace.
Our goal is not simply to prepare students for an AI-driven future. It is to prepare them to help shape that future as critical thinkers, ethical leaders, engaged Jews, and responsible human beings.