Our Kids’ Jobs Don’t Exist Yet. So Which Skills Will Matter?
A morning conversation with ISB parents. Jing Jing Yang (ISB Class of 2019) and Phillip An, co-founders of Arena School, share what they’ve seen, and why agency, taste, and craft matter in the age of AI.
- WhenWednesday, October 14
- Time8:30–10:00 am
- WhereISB Commons, International School of Beijing
- ForISB parents, hosted by the ISB PTA
The questions we’ll answer
What does “AI native” work look like in law, medicine, and finance?
How work in these fields is changing, from our team’s own experience.
What do employers actually look for now?
What hiring teams value when AI can do the first draft.
What can students build today?
Real projects ISB students made with AI.
Which skills compound, and how do we grow them without adding another class?
Habits families can build at home, alongside school.
Students already use AI. Parents are right to ask.
Three findings from RAND’s national surveys of students and parents. Each links to its source.
- 54%
of U.S. students said they used AI for school in 2025, up more than 15 points in one to two years.
Source: RAND, AI Use in Schools Is Quickly Increasing but Guidance Lags Behind, September 2025
- 61%
of parents agreed that greater use of AI will harm students’ critical-thinking skills.
Source: RAND, AI Use in Schools Is Quickly Increasing but Guidance Lags Behind, September 2025
- 1 in 2
students said they are worried they will be falsely accused of using AI to cheat.
Source: RAND, AI Use in Schools Is Quickly Increasing but Guidance Lags Behind, September 2025
The co-founders of Arena School
Jing Jing Yang
Co-founder, Arena School. At ISB from elementary school through graduation (Class of 2019); Brown and Tsinghua; Kimi (Moonshot AI).
Phillip An
Co-founder, Arena School. Forbes 30 Under 30 and a YC-backed founder; McKinsey and Goldman Sachs; Caltech, Harvard, and Tsinghua.
The work we talked about.
- International School of Beijing · Summer 2026
A five-day student program
Over five days, students built working websites and apps with AI and presented them to judges, on the school’s campus with mentors in the room.
- Where
- International School of Beijing
- Judges
- Founders and operators from Harvard, Stanford, Y Combinator, and AI labs
- Bodley Academy · Hong Kong, summer 2025
Twenty students, five days
A five-day course designed and taught by Phillip An. Each student worked on one real problem they chose.
- Students
- 20
- Rating
- 9.5 / 10 Net Promoter Score
Slides and resources
The slides, PDFs, and case studies from the talk are on one page.