Midwest Academy for Gifted Education (MAGE)
Midwest Academy for Gifted Education MAGE

When Kyoto University of Education began developing a government-funded gifted-education pilot in Japan, the university approached the Midwest Academy for Gifted Education (MAGE), founded and led by Irene Gottlieb, for guidance. The opportunity also reflects a broader question facing education: What should schools prioritize when information can be found, processed, and recalled faster than ever?

The question has become increasingly relevant as artificial intelligence changes how people access knowledge. Education has traditionally placed considerable emphasis on memory and speed because both are relatively easy to observe and measure.

In a system designed to educate large numbers of children efficiently, knowing the answer quickly can become a convenient proxy for knowing. Gifted children are often particularly strong at both. Many arrive at MAGE with strong memories and habits built around getting to the answer quickly.

"Much of what we've called intelligence has really been memorization party tricks," Gottlieb says. "Kids can only get so far on memory and speed, and now AI does those tricks faster and better than any child ever will. So take memorization off the table. What's left? What's most important? What's sacred?"

As AI continues to produce more answers, the currency of the leaders of the future is being able to evaluate the accuracy of technology's outputs. Knowledge still matters, but students need information and context before they can evaluate ideas or make informed decisions. However, abilities such as judgment, problem-solving, communication, curiosity, and persistence are becoming increasingly valuable. A recent OECD discussion on AI, reading, and learning similarly highlights the importance of critical thinking, careful reading, and distinguishing fact from opinion as technology becomes more integrated into learning.

The wider implication is that preparing children for technological change requires continued attention to the individual learner. Gottlieb describes this idea as learning without limits: creating room for academic growth alongside guidance, relationships and support.

Progress, in this view, is not measured only by what a child can remember or how quickly they can produce an answer, but also by whether they can explain their reasoning, question an answer, recognize mistakes, understand when they need help and understand their own strengths and challenges. The classroom's responsibility is to make space for both intellectual ambition and the ordinary needs of childhood.

Technology can support that process when used thoughtfully, but it does not replace the role of teachers. "There's an art to teaching, and machines don't know it yet," Gottlieb says. "A screen competes for a child's attention. A relationship is what grows it."

At MAGE, this approach begins with understanding that a child's abilities may develop differently across subjects and skills. A student who is ready for advanced material in one area may still need additional support somewhere else. The school therefore looks at individual strengths and challenges when shaping instruction.

Curriculum flexibility follows from that understanding. "Each child has a completely customized curriculum," Gottlieb says. Students at MAGE work in different small groups across subjects, with academic readiness guiding instruction and social considerations informing placement. The principle is responsiveness: a child can encounter greater complexity in one subject while receiving additional support elsewhere.

The same philosophy influences how the school approaches mistakes. Students are encouraged to return to areas they have not fully understood rather than treating a strong overall score as the end of the learning process.

"Mistakes are the difference between learning something and knowing it," she says. "Better to learn that at 12, when the stakes are low, than at 25."

MAGE also incorporates practical projects that give students opportunities to test and revise ideas. Students develop toys or games through a process that can involve designing, prototyping, testing, and improving their work. Students may also create small businesses, introducing them to activities such as market research, planning, and contracts.

Measuring these abilities can be more complicated. Qualities such as originality, judgment, and persistence are not always captured easily through conventional assessments. MAGE therefore views standardized testing as one source of information rather than a complete picture of a student.

"The model is working. 100% of MAGE eighth graders meet or exceed college readiness guidelines. Our students are, on average, three years ahead of their peers," Gottlieb shares.

MAGE is small, selective, and expensive, and its model cannot simply be copied into every school. But small schools can serve as research laboratories for larger systems, testing different assumptions about how children learn before those ideas are considered at a broader scale.

For generations, knowing the answer has been treated as evidence of intelligence. AI can now produce many answers instantly. The more important question for education may be what children can do when the answer is not enough: what questions they ask, what problems they choose to solve, and what they build from what they know.