4 ms·

I don't think the view that just because we can automate the creation of a simple essay makes writing essays for students obsolete. It's not what Chomsky said b

I don't think the view that just because we can automate the creation of a simple essay makes writing essays for students obsolete. It's not what Chomsky said but I've heard the argument a lot in the context. We are not requiring it because everyone is writing essays all the time but because it's an important, basic skill. We can automate many math exercises, but it's still important to let students do it on their own. One absolutely need to learn to communicating their thoughts in a coherent way. To argument and to develop thoughts. If plagiarism is a overwhelming problem we will just see students having to write an essay with pen and paper just like you do our math exam. Then ChatGPT won't help you.

BulgarianIdiot 4y ago
So you don’t need it in life because you don’t do it, but it’s an important basic skill. Explain this belief.
- LeanderK 4y ago
  because it's not about the essay but the skills you need to write an essay. Many topics in school are not strictly needed, but important, either for your intellectual maturity or because they are used in other contexts.
  - BulgarianIdiot 4y ago
    What skills.
bitwize 4y ago
> I don't think the view that just because we can automate the creation of a simple essay makes writing essays for students obsolete. It's not what Chomsky said but I've heard the argument a lot in the context. We are not requiring it because everyone is writing essays all the time but because it's an important, basic skill. I think there's something to be said for the view that ChatGPT makes the sort of simplistic, tedious essays typically assigned to K-12 students obsolete. Essay writing is fun, but school essays take the fun out of it, much as is the case with school math. School is corrosive to enjoyment of intellectual activity. This is by design: the primary purpose of school in the USA is to break the students' individuality so they learn to obey commands and submit to authority. Vital skills in every industry from construction and manufacturing to high tech. ChatGPT puts the lie to the idea that essays in standard formats on standard topics with standard argument structure should be how we teach kids to write, much like TI-83s put the lie to the idea that school-age math is mostly rote memorization and application with little conceptual thought. We will have to show them how to find their own personal voice and have it come through in their work. The ChatGPT era will require adjustment from educators. Again, remember Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine, a 1950s kids' novel whose McGuffin was a supercomputer that functioned much like GPT: you asked it natural-language questions and it would type out answers. The computer was sabotaged such that it would answer in a way that was coherent and authoritative sounding, but wrong, challenging the young heroes to actually study to understand when and how the machine was wrong. ChatGPT poses similar challenges to today's kids, and if we want to teach them we will have to acknowledge and accommodate those challenges in the curriculum.
- LeanderK 4y ago
  Well, maybe some adjustment is needed. The calculator changed the curriculum but the creation of wolfram alpha did not. We can maybe revise how we do it but essays are still important I think. They also lie at the heart of so many university degrees.
  - bitwize 4y ago
    I think that essays are great and a necessary part of education. But the way we've taught them for decades has to go.

BulgarianIdiot 4y ago

So you don’t need it in life because you don’t do it, but it’s an important basic skill. Explain this belief.

LeanderK 4y ago
because it's not about the essay but the skills you need to write an essay. Many topics in school are not strictly needed, but important, either for your intellectual maturity or because they are used in other contexts.
- BulgarianIdiot 4y ago
  What skills.

bitwize 4y ago

> I don't think the view that just because we can automate the creation of a simple essay makes writing essays for students obsolete. It's not what Chomsky said but I've heard the argument a lot in the context. We are not requiring it because everyone is writing essays all the time but because it's an important, basic skill. I think there's something to be said for the view that ChatGPT makes the sort of simplistic, tedious essays typically assigned to K-12 students obsolete. Essay writing is fun, but school essays take the fun out of it, much as is the case with school math. School is corrosive to enjoyment of intellectual activity. This is by design: the primary purpose of school in the USA is to break the students' individuality so they learn to obey commands and submit to authority. Vital skills in every industry from construction and manufacturing to high tech. ChatGPT puts the lie to the idea that essays in standard formats on standard topics with standard argument structure should be how we teach kids to write, much like TI-83s put the lie to the idea that school-age math is mostly rote memorization and application with little conceptual thought. We will have to show them how to find their own personal voice and have it come through in their work. The ChatGPT era will require adjustment from educators. Again, remember Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine, a 1950s kids' novel whose McGuffin was a supercomputer that functioned much like GPT: you asked it natural-language questions and it would type out answers. The computer was sabotaged such that it would answer in a way that was coherent and authoritative sounding, but wrong, challenging the young heroes to actually study to understand when and how the machine was wrong. ChatGPT poses similar challenges to today's kids, and if we want to teach them we will have to acknowledge and accommodate those challenges in the curriculum.

LeanderK 4y ago
Well, maybe some adjustment is needed. The calculator changed the curriculum but the creation of wolfram alpha did not. We can maybe revise how we do it but essays are still important I think. They also lie at the heart of so many university degrees.
- bitwize 4y ago
  I think that essays are great and a necessary part of education. But the way we've taught them for decades has to go.