React isn't the problem. How we teach it is. Ask a junior developer what happens after a submit button is clicked. Most will say: > "An API call is made and a response is returned." Fair enough. But ask how the browser sends that request. What HTTP method is used. Where authentication happens. How the server processes it before data reaches a database. That's where the gaps appear. We're not producing bad developers. We're producing developers with missing context. Somewhere along the way, we started teaching abstractions before foundations. React before HTTP. Components before servers. State management before databases. Auth libraries before authentication. The result is developers who know what to do, but not always why. The same concern applies to AI. Do not get me wrong, I use it daily. The problem starts when it replaces thinking instead of supporting it. Debugging, reading docs, experimenting, and failing weren't obstacles. They were training. Software development isn't just writing code. It's making decisions, evaluating trade-offs, and understanding systems. How would I teach web dev? HTML/CSS → JavaScript → Browser fundamentals → HTTP/APIs → Back-end basics → Databases → Auth → React. React isn't the problem. AI isn't the problem. The problem is rushing through the fundamentals and hoping the gaps fill themselves later. Sometimes they do. Often they don't.