The skills AI can't replace: what families are doing right now

I talk to a lot of parents, and right now the range of reactions to AI is wider than I've ever seen. Some families are pulling back hard, banning AI tools entirely and doubling down on everything traditional. Others are in a kind of low-grade panic about job markets and life readiness, genuinely unsure what to prepare their kids for. Most are somewhere in between, trying to make thoughtful choices without a clear map.

What I can offer is the data. Over the past 90 days, we tracked booking and enrollment trends across thousands of classes on our marketplace, year over year. The families making deliberate investments right now aren't splitting into two camps. They're converging on something specific.

They're not retreating from technology. They're not doubling down on traditional academics out of fear. They're investing in the skills that become harder to automate as AI becomes more capable. And the pattern across all of it is consistent enough to be worth sharing.

Critical thinking is the fastest-growing theme in humanities

This is the signal I find most striking.

Debate bookings are up roughly 50%. Psychology is up around 60%. Philosophy is up nearly 40%. World History is up about 25%.

These aren't coincidences. Every one of them requires a kid to form an independent viewpoint, hold it under pressure, and defend it with reasoning. Not just recall.

When information is cheap and generated at scale, judgment is the differentiator. The Carnegie Foundation and ETS recently published a formal Skills Progressions framework naming critical thinking, communication, and collaboration as the capabilities that "distinguish human contribution" as AI reshapes work and civic life. Those are the same three categories driving the steepest enrollment growth on our platform.

If your kid's learning plan has a gap, debate, philosophy, or psychology are worth looking at. That's not a prescription. Every kid is different, and you know yours best. But the signal from families making these choices independently is consistent enough to be worth paying attention to.

English is shifting from mechanics to argument

Overall English enrollments are relatively flat. Inside that flatline, there's a clear split.

Essay writing is up about 25%. Phonics, grammar, spelling, and reading comprehension are flat or declining.

The pattern is consistent: demand is strongest for the skills that require synthesis and original thinking, the things AI can approximate but not authentically produce. Mechanics are table stakes. Argument is the skill families are prioritizing.

Entry-level coding is declining, and that's not a crisis

Scratch enrollments are down. Python is down. Block coding is down. All roughly 35–50%.

I'd encourage parents not to panic about this.

What's replacing them tells the real story. Robotics bookings are up over 100%. 3D modeling and design is up nearly 200%. Arduino is growing.

Families aren't abandoning technology. They're moving past syntax toward applied understanding: how technology interacts with the physical world, how things get built, how systems work. That's a more durable foundation than memorizing Python syntax that an AI can write on demand anyway.

The question isn't whether your kid should learn to code. It's what kind of technological fluency matters in a world where AI writes the code. Families navigating that shift are landing somewhere interesting.

Executive function is the sleeper trend

Planning, focus, self-regulation, task initiation.

Executive function enrollments are up roughly 45%. Teacher supply is growing to meet that demand.

Families are paying attention to the metacognitive layer, not just what kids learn, but how they learn. How they manage complexity. How they stay focused when everything around them is designed to fragment their attention.

This is one of the most practical investments any family can make right now, regardless of where their kid goes to school.

Social learning is increasingly part of the value

Book clubs are up about 20%. Video game learning classes are up around 15%.

These aren't soft additions to a learning plan. They're a direct response to a world where AI can simulate many one-to-one interactions. Families are investing in experiences that require real people: debating, collaborating, building meaning together.

The social dimension of learning is becoming a deliberate choice, not a side effect.

What this means for your kid's learning plan

The families showing up in this data aren't going back to traditional models. They're building something more intentional: learning plans structured around the skills that get harder to automate as AI gets more capable.

Critical thinking. Communication. Applied problem-solving. Self-regulation. Collaborative learning.

These aren't soft skills. They're the hard skills of the next decade.

If you're building or refining a plan for the year ahead, start with the gaps. The enrollment patterns above are a useful signal, not because following trends is the goal, but because when thousands of families arrive independently at the same answers, that's worth something.

If you're not sure where your kid stands, we built a short quiz to help you find out. It takes about five minutes and gives you a concrete starting point.