"ChatGPT can do busy work". Not good, not bad, just a fact.
The more important point is the vast extent of contemporary Western education is revealed as mere busywork. In my latter years of teaching I was impressed by an idea, or fad perhaps, of "flipping the classroom": nearly all instruction was self-instruction outside of the classroom, and nearly all classroom time was spent interacting and engaging the ideas. I didn't want to see if you could regurgitate what I'd said or an article I told you to read. I wanted you to come into class on your toes, because there might be a debate or a small-group activity or discussion that required you to apply those ideas to a puzzle, to demonstrate how much of the material you could process and apply.
So much more interesting than any other way of running a class, for the professor as well as the students. Yeah, a few students hated it or struggled with interaction itself, but more relished the opportunity to try something different. I didn't have time to really master the approach, but did learn how much harder, how much more sheer effort, it is for the professor, to make things engaging, think of applications, stay a few steps ahead of the brightest students, and figure out fair ways to grade participants in a more dynamic and individualized classroom.
And that's really the point: Professors who want to read slides of information dumbed down to bullet points and delegate discussion/explanations (and grading) to assistants, are shocked, shocked that children and young adults recognize the pointlessness of revving up their brains for any of that. Not that profs care a lot, since their careers depend far, far more on publish-or-perish (which they're using AI to churn out, themselves).
Cut student loans and see how many kids and families pay a quarter of a million dollars for the credentials. Cut the lavish paraphenalia of K-12 eco-gender-nihilist indoctrination funded by nosebleed property taxes that churns out kids who can't read, write, or calculate. Time to take down the whole house of cards.
If the Roman, Greek and Arab philosophers knew into what kind of "weird bunch" of society the West has evolved, they would be spinning at highest possible revvs in their graves ...
Seems, we've entirely lost our sense of being ...
But there's hope: either consented paradigm-shift or forced, long-lasting, mass-famine to get our act together ...
As someone who cares deeply about education and the learning process as well as how it’s taught and what approaches are used, this post really hit the nail on the head. As ai has become ubiquitous and more and more people no longer see the need for actual writing that pours from their own brains, we end up with dumber and dumber people spouting smarter and more brilliant sounding ideas. When we break this down and discover there is no sense to much of these things, that the logic is muddled and the viewpoints are skewed that we realize we have become beholden to a tool that is hindering our creativity. I wonder if more learning via Socratic dialogues would be one potential solution to this growing problem. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this! 💙
I'm afraid what's happening now is much worse than curbing our creativity; it's really about dumbing down the people, and not just through AI...
I just heard a report in France explaining that a famous series of short novels* aimed at 10-14 year-olds has been "redacted" as follows:
- "we" replaced with "one"
- detailed descriptions removed
- "too complicated" (!!) words removed
- the simple past tense replaced with the present tense (this last point seems extremely revealing to me: nothing exists except "the present," the immediate - without memory, without projection into the future....)
We're creating entire generations of goldfish.
And so, the Socratic method, a hundred times yes - as part of a cure for weaning off pre-chewed resources - with the first question: what do you really know on your own, that hasn't been ”poured” into your brain, without thinking for yourself?
*(The Adventures of the ”Famous Five” - I don’t know what could be equivalent for english-speaking teens)
Oh! That is truly scary indeed. Sounds like 1984 (the George Orwell book) come to fruition! Yikes! And those books will most like no longer appeal to tweens/teens now. Too boring and too cold.
And the famous five is British and very few Americans (especially tweens) are familiar with her books! It’s so sad!
🫣 didn’t know the famous five were british ! (and it’s so long ago ... 🤭)
To take things from a positive perspective, I remember my husband’s nephew disliked books - somewhat addicted to some electronic game... - until the day my husband offered him a book : the story on which this game was based.. plus some ”hints” to earn ”points” in the game !
"ChatGPT can do busy work". Not good, not bad, just a fact.
The more important point is the vast extent of contemporary Western education is revealed as mere busywork. In my latter years of teaching I was impressed by an idea, or fad perhaps, of "flipping the classroom": nearly all instruction was self-instruction outside of the classroom, and nearly all classroom time was spent interacting and engaging the ideas. I didn't want to see if you could regurgitate what I'd said or an article I told you to read. I wanted you to come into class on your toes, because there might be a debate or a small-group activity or discussion that required you to apply those ideas to a puzzle, to demonstrate how much of the material you could process and apply.
So much more interesting than any other way of running a class, for the professor as well as the students. Yeah, a few students hated it or struggled with interaction itself, but more relished the opportunity to try something different. I didn't have time to really master the approach, but did learn how much harder, how much more sheer effort, it is for the professor, to make things engaging, think of applications, stay a few steps ahead of the brightest students, and figure out fair ways to grade participants in a more dynamic and individualized classroom.
And that's really the point: Professors who want to read slides of information dumbed down to bullet points and delegate discussion/explanations (and grading) to assistants, are shocked, shocked that children and young adults recognize the pointlessness of revving up their brains for any of that. Not that profs care a lot, since their careers depend far, far more on publish-or-perish (which they're using AI to churn out, themselves).
Cut student loans and see how many kids and families pay a quarter of a million dollars for the credentials. Cut the lavish paraphenalia of K-12 eco-gender-nihilist indoctrination funded by nosebleed property taxes that churns out kids who can't read, write, or calculate. Time to take down the whole house of cards.
Out of this post's context but fitting to the general view:
https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/life-outside-the-western-matrix-its?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Thanks ! I liked it. Short but complete ”panorama”. Well articulated and written.
If the Roman, Greek and Arab philosophers knew into what kind of "weird bunch" of society the West has evolved, they would be spinning at highest possible revvs in their graves ...
Seems, we've entirely lost our sense of being ...
But there's hope: either consented paradigm-shift or forced, long-lasting, mass-famine to get our act together ...
The choice is still ours ...
💯 ✅️
As someone who cares deeply about education and the learning process as well as how it’s taught and what approaches are used, this post really hit the nail on the head. As ai has become ubiquitous and more and more people no longer see the need for actual writing that pours from their own brains, we end up with dumber and dumber people spouting smarter and more brilliant sounding ideas. When we break this down and discover there is no sense to much of these things, that the logic is muddled and the viewpoints are skewed that we realize we have become beholden to a tool that is hindering our creativity. I wonder if more learning via Socratic dialogues would be one potential solution to this growing problem. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this! 💙
I'm afraid what's happening now is much worse than curbing our creativity; it's really about dumbing down the people, and not just through AI...
I just heard a report in France explaining that a famous series of short novels* aimed at 10-14 year-olds has been "redacted" as follows:
- "we" replaced with "one"
- detailed descriptions removed
- "too complicated" (!!) words removed
- the simple past tense replaced with the present tense (this last point seems extremely revealing to me: nothing exists except "the present," the immediate - without memory, without projection into the future....)
We're creating entire generations of goldfish.
And so, the Socratic method, a hundred times yes - as part of a cure for weaning off pre-chewed resources - with the first question: what do you really know on your own, that hasn't been ”poured” into your brain, without thinking for yourself?
*(The Adventures of the ”Famous Five” - I don’t know what could be equivalent for english-speaking teens)
Oh! That is truly scary indeed. Sounds like 1984 (the George Orwell book) come to fruition! Yikes! And those books will most like no longer appeal to tweens/teens now. Too boring and too cold.
And the famous five is British and very few Americans (especially tweens) are familiar with her books! It’s so sad!
🫣 didn’t know the famous five were british ! (and it’s so long ago ... 🤭)
To take things from a positive perspective, I remember my husband’s nephew disliked books - somewhat addicted to some electronic game... - until the day my husband offered him a book : the story on which this game was based.. plus some ”hints” to earn ”points” in the game !
There’s always hope... 😉
Yes, meet them where they are interest-wise. Yes, always hope! 😁