What if everything you learned in K-12 were available in an instant? --- except learning how to learn and how to reason through problems --- (not just look up solutions)
Well, we already have the former, even without AI, but I wonder about the latter. I left out "how to express yourself" because we have already reached the "writing event horizon" where it takes considerable "intelligence" to distinguish true self-expression from algorithmic.
I'm not being snide. I grew up through the 4 function calculator, the HP-35, minicomputers, microcomputers, and so on and so forth.
One has to ask "What is education?" I am especially troubled by the post-truth world of unmoderated (anti)social media and by this Matrix world where you can't tell what's genuine and what's algorithmic, with the percentage of material trending quickly towards the latter.
It would seem that the chief skill needed now is the ability to discern fact from fiction, every hour of the day. Case in point. I just looked up products at Amazon and every damn one on the page had a 4.5 star rating. Right.
So, every schoolkid with access to the internet/AI can indeed crank out answers (and tons more) that it used to take a college degree to learn. On the basis of standard exams, they're all straight-A, because they have this "skill" at exam time, and every minute of the day.
So, what's to learn? What the hell do grades mean any more?
rolph · 1d ago
parrots get B's; coherent synthesis gets an A; those who persue for nothing but discovery get a ride.
andsoitis · 1d ago
If I got an F and got upgraded to C, while my peer who also go an F gets an A instead, I'd be pretty upset.
rolph · 1d ago
in my past experience this would happen due to curve fitting, the absolute grades are shifted to relative grades that conform to Chebyshev's rule. in such a case as you describe, the entire class most likely failed [statisticaly] however the source of failure is most probably systemic.
BobbyTables2 · 1d ago
The kids who originally got an A should be really upset!
chaidhat · 1d ago
If it were based on merit like class participation id be ok
Well, we already have the former, even without AI, but I wonder about the latter. I left out "how to express yourself" because we have already reached the "writing event horizon" where it takes considerable "intelligence" to distinguish true self-expression from algorithmic.
I'm not being snide. I grew up through the 4 function calculator, the HP-35, minicomputers, microcomputers, and so on and so forth.
One has to ask "What is education?" I am especially troubled by the post-truth world of unmoderated (anti)social media and by this Matrix world where you can't tell what's genuine and what's algorithmic, with the percentage of material trending quickly towards the latter.
It would seem that the chief skill needed now is the ability to discern fact from fiction, every hour of the day. Case in point. I just looked up products at Amazon and every damn one on the page had a 4.5 star rating. Right.
So, every schoolkid with access to the internet/AI can indeed crank out answers (and tons more) that it used to take a college degree to learn. On the basis of standard exams, they're all straight-A, because they have this "skill" at exam time, and every minute of the day.
So, what's to learn? What the hell do grades mean any more?