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ChatGPT Will End High-School English

5 points by DocFeind 4y ago

smeej 4y ago
I think we have to take for granted that this is coming. But that raises as many questions as it answers. An instinct in me says I don't want to live in a world where almost everything I read is generated by AIs, even if it's better than what I'm currently reading by humans, but I'm having difficulty pinning down why. I think it has to do with mutuality of interest. If I read something written by a human and find it interesting, I know it was created by an interested mind. There's someone on the other side of it. Mechanizing that takes the connection out of it, and maybe that intangible sense of being part of something is more important than we're giving it credit for.
- 082349872349872 4y ago
  What about if we get the AI to a point where one can have a meaningful "correspondence" with the author? Would that potential provide a connection, or not?
  - smeej 4y ago
    I suspect it would be better than nothing, but I think we'll find it a poor substitute for human connection on a level that's hard to recognize or explain.
hbarka 4y ago
I think it will be the opposite. We will need literacy more than ever because the key to dialog with ChatGPT (LLMs) is knowing how to prompt. Teachers have a great opportunity. Be creative.
- 082349872349872 4y ago
  The camera reduced photography to literally pushing a button, yet people still (avocationally) take photography courses. (Hmmm ... or am I out of date? Does the smartphone generation still do this? Or have they simply moved on to drone cinematography courses?)
32gbsd 4y ago
Waiting for the "chatgpt will end climate change" but these authors are focusing on low hanging fruit instead of hard issues. The english language hasa finite set of words.
troydavis 4y ago
Imagine you're a 12th grade English teacher who has tried ChatGPT. Knowing how to produce coherent written work is a key outcome of your class. As this author wrote, many students can't do that on their own. They aren't going to get there by graduation. So, should you spend a class period introducing ChatGPT and teaching prompts? Obviously you'd prefer if every student was able to produce coherent written work on their own, but that's not reality. Enabling them to use another tool seems much better than nothing.
LarsDu88 4y ago
When I read this I began to realize that this has happened quite a few times in the past. The founding fathers expected each other to know Greco-Roman history quite well. Live music and painting were far more lucrative skills in the past. French, Latin, and cursive used to be far more common in pedagogy. Harvard was a Bible school. These things all used to be important until they weren't (or at least greatly diminished). AI is now coming for the last human tasks that can't be done by machines. The real question is whether any people will continue to feel motivated to spend years of study to surpass machines in specific domains
- 082349872349872 4y ago
  The Jaquet-Droz automata were not chosen at random; they embodied "accomplishments": things that the XVIII upper classes did and lower classes did (maybe even could) not. * The Artist * The Musician * The Writer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaquet-Droz_automata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaquet-Droz_automata (Edit: and come to think of it, all of the above are today still culturally aspirational, if highly illucrative, occupations)
082349872349872 4y ago
Taking the title as a given, what happens with High-School second/third languages?

5 points by DocFeind 4y ago

I think we have to take for granted that this is coming. But that raises as many questions as it answers. An instinct in me says I don't want to live in a world where almost everything I read is generated by AIs, even if it's better than what I'm currently reading by humans, but I'm having difficulty pinning down why. I think it has to do with mutuality of interest. If I read something written by a human and find it interesting, I know it was created by an interested mind. There's someone on the other side of it. Mechanizing that takes the connection out of it, and maybe that intangible sense of being part of something is more important than we're giving it credit for.

082349872349872 4y ago
What about if we get the AI to a point where one can have a meaningful "correspondence" with the author? Would that potential provide a connection, or not?
- smeej 4y ago
  I suspect it would be better than nothing, but I think we'll find it a poor substitute for human connection on a level that's hard to recognize or explain.

hbarka 4y ago

I think it will be the opposite. We will need literacy more than ever because the key to dialog with ChatGPT (LLMs) is knowing how to prompt. Teachers have a great opportunity. Be creative.

082349872349872 4y ago
The camera reduced photography to literally pushing a button, yet people still (avocationally) take photography courses. (Hmmm ... or am I out of date? Does the smartphone generation still do this? Or have they simply moved on to drone cinematography courses?)

32gbsd 4y ago

Waiting for the "chatgpt will end climate change" but these authors are focusing on low hanging fruit instead of hard issues. The english language hasa finite set of words.

troydavis 4y ago

Imagine you're a 12th grade English teacher who has tried ChatGPT. Knowing how to produce coherent written work is a key outcome of your class. As this author wrote, many students can't do that on their own. They aren't going to get there by graduation. So, should you spend a class period introducing ChatGPT and teaching prompts? Obviously you'd prefer if every student was able to produce coherent written work on their own, but that's not reality. Enabling them to use another tool seems much better than nothing.

LarsDu88 4y ago

When I read this I began to realize that this has happened quite a few times in the past. The founding fathers expected each other to know Greco-Roman history quite well. Live music and painting were far more lucrative skills in the past. French, Latin, and cursive used to be far more common in pedagogy. Harvard was a Bible school. These things all used to be important until they weren't (or at least greatly diminished). AI is now coming for the last human tasks that can't be done by machines. The real question is whether any people will continue to feel motivated to spend years of study to surpass machines in specific domains

082349872349872 4y ago
The Jaquet-Droz automata were not chosen at random; they embodied "accomplishments": things that the XVIII upper classes did and lower classes did (maybe even could) not. * The Artist * The Musician * The Writer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaquet-Droz_automata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaquet-Droz_automata (Edit: and come to think of it, all of the above are today still culturally aspirational, if highly illucrative, occupations)

082349872349872 4y ago

Taking the title as a given, what happens with High-School second/third languages?