Here's a Chinese phrase which started in kung fu, and is now used to explain how AI is affecting education.

"Rare, lost skill" (绝学 jué xué)

First used by writer Jin Yong (金庸) in wuxia novels.

It means a master who has spent decades perfecting a technique so difficult, so obscure, that perhaps only one person in the world still knows it.

In this context, "rare skill" (绝学) means something precious, or a dying art.

The character 绝 (jué) means "to cut off" or "to cease." 学 (xué) means knowledge or learning.

Together: knowledge that has been severed from the living world.

Now Chinese students whose degrees are being axed are using the same word — sarcastically — about their own subjects:

"My major has become a dying art."

很不幸，我的专业成了绝学。

The irony lands because the original meaning is so different.

In wuxia, 绝学 is rare because it's extraordinary.

Here, it's rare because nobody wants it anymore thanks to AI being able to replace humans in many subjects.