I teach 18 year olds who range in reading levels from preschool to college, but the majority of them are in the lower half that range. I am devastated by what AI and social media have done to them. My kids don’t think anymore. They don’t have interests. Literally, when I ask them what they’re interested in, so many of them can’t name anything for me. Even my smartest kids insist that ChatGPT is good “when used correctly.” I ask them, “How does one use it correctly then?” They can’t answer the question. They don’t have original thoughts. They just parrot back what they’ve heard in TikToks. They try to show me “information” ChatGPT gave them. I ask them, “How do you know this is true?” They move their phone closer to me for emphasis, exclaiming, “Look, it says it right here!” They cannot understand what I am asking them. It breaks my heart for them and honestly it makes it hard to continue teaching. If I were to quit, it would be because of how technology has stunted kids and how hard it’s become to reach them because of that.
I’m just gonna repost my comment to the original post on the 404media community:
Here’s a funny story: I once got a D on an essay for my History of Physics class because it was so good that the TA was certain I had plagiarized it. The only reason I didn’t end up in front of the ethics board was because she couldn’t find any evidence of me doing so… because I hadn’t. How many students are in the same situation due to overzealous teachers who have a bone to pick with AI?
Notice how most of the proposed “solutions” focus on bans, and ways to catch and punish students with almost none on improving archaic teaching techniques. Oral presentations, debates, real-world projects, essays on local subjects, using class to discuss subjects students previously studied instead of pontificating for 2 hours, doing away with homework, actually engaging students so they don’t feel like cheating… there’s loads of ways to teach without AI being a hindrance but it requires teachers to actually adapt instead of being stubborn, lazy twats with an inferiority complex.
I would have students do their first few assignments by handwriting while in class as a way to gauge how their voice is and then let them use tech after.
I think that’s a decent way to weed out people using AI or not for their own thoughts on subjects.
That’s nice, but how do you remember a style of writting of 200 students? I see it working when one has 20 students to worry about, but that isn’t a common teacher experience.
This is a fair point. It sucks, but one could keep the written things for a while to check against. It’s a lot of work and not definitely not ideal, but it is a solution.
That’s exactly what I said not to do. Stop focusing on ways to “weed them out” and start improving your teaching. Assigning reading material and then discussing it in class is a much better way to gauge your students voice that any essay they could write by hand on however long the class lasts. It’s also a better use of your time; I can image few things worse than reading 50 essays written by undergrads.
Yes, BUT everyone needs to write at some point. Also, some people do not feel comfortable sharing in class and as a teacher we should not be forcing them to. There are different learning types so your approach works for some and not others. That is why there should always be multiple ways to convey learning.
My point is, you won’t get away from writing and you shouldn’t. So, find a way to make sure they know multiple ways to express themselves.
Everyone also needs to speak in public at some point and some don’t feel comfortable writing either. You’re entirely missing the point. I didn’t say “stop asking them to write”, I said “stop trying to catch them using AI and be a better teacher”.
How? No one learns handwriting anymore.
Weird. I’ve been subbing and am in a master’s program for elementary education and I’m pretty fucking sure they teach handwriting or I’ve been in a virtual world the last half a year.
They definitely do lol. My kid uses chat gpt, and he also has critical thinking skills. I’ve taught him to look for evidence and apply logic, not trust blindly what anyone or anything tells him.
Mostly he gets frustrated that chat gpt struggles to precisely remember the imaginary dinosaurs he created with it’s help.
Oh yeah, and he knows how to write with a pencil on paper. He’d rather dictate and let speech recognition do the typing (which he is also capable of), but what kid do you know that doesn’t love a shortcut? I’d blame lazy parents, but most of them are just too tired after working 2.5 jobs to earn a living wage for them and their families you can’t really blame them.