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I’m curious what teachers unions in the United States will think of this. Presumably any successful outcomes with this will result in a culling, starting with

I’m curious what teachers unions in the United States will think of this. Presumably any successful outcomes with this will result in a culling, starting with aides and specialists. Add declining enrollment and you have strong incentive.

ukuina 2y ago
How is this different in effect from teacher resources like Classroom.com? Many websites provide teacher packs; this offering is a hyper-customized, always up-to-date version of the same.
- endisneigh 2y ago
  It’s completely different for the reasons you already mentioned. It’s like saying an abacus and a (digital) calculator are the same.
  - lucubratory 2y ago
    An abacus and a calculator are the same.
    - skhunted 2y ago
      They are not the same. One is far more capable than the other. Can an abacus numerically solve a differential equation in a few seconds?
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
changoplatanero 2y ago
teachers unions don't have a monopoly on learning. they have a monopoly on the government provided childcare market
vundercind 2y ago
What does this do that’s so incredibly time-saving that you could cut specialists and aides? One may hope it’d just help teachers be a ton more effective, or at least less over-worked. We’d need about twice as many to deliver really good education, but instead the pool of teachers is shrinking, so we’re gonna need tech just to tread water on education quality.
vsuperpower2020 2y ago
This is a misunderstanding of the purpose of teachers in the US. They exist to babysit students while the parents work, and any learning that gets done is a bonus. You can't replace babysitting with online classes.
- endisneigh 2y ago
  I’m not talking about teachers, I’m talking about aides.
voidfunc 2y ago
Lol. Teachers are for babysitting. Learning is secondary. They'll be fine because we've decided the optimal babysitting ratio for teachers is somewhere between 30 and 50 students.
enavari 2y ago
Well I'm a teacher and I completely disagree. This if anything just levels the playing field by now giving poor kids tutors that rich families were paying for the whole time. Having a new teaching tool is no substitution for teachers. Teachers are there to classroom manage, manage/coach students to learn, and baby sit.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  >Teachers are there to classroom manage, manage/coach students to learn, and baby sit. If this is really what actual teachers think of teaching in 2024, Gen Alpha truly is doomed.
  - 9dev 2y ago
    What do you think teachers are for instead? The learning part is on the student, anyway. You can only assist them while they do it. And that mostly means breaking down stuff into lessons, taking care of the learning environment, answering questions as they arise, keep students from cutting each others hair off, and keep them busy until their parents come home from work (although I agree the last part is a bit of a cynical take).
    - johnnyanmac 2y ago
      For a grade school teacher; 1. To teach students whatever society deems at the time is general education. This is straightforward, don't think I need to elaborate here. 2. To widen the horizons of the youth on what's possible to do in the world. Ideally they'd inspire students and guide them towards their potential passions and interests. I'd never be here in tech if my 4th/5th grade teacher didn't inspire me into STEM. He worked at NASA before, he was my first exposure to Carl Sagan, he had all sorts of neat astronomical examples ready whenever the science unit came up. I didn't end up as an astronomer, but it did show me something I never would have looked into otherwise as a kid 3. A resource (or pointer to a resource) for students. Be it if the students are struggling in studies, are curious about particular topics, or want to try and plan a future pursuit. They should help students not only learn, but learn to learn. 4. Lastly, as a state guardian. A teacher should be one a child should feels safe confiding with should issues involving their parents, peers, or even other teaches arises. They should have some emotional intelligence to balance between what administration wants and what the student needs at that time. This also may include identifying mental or medical issues in students, and at least able to start the trail of investigation should there be more than lack of interest holding some students back. If we compare notes we agree on #1, and you have maybe a small inkling of #3 and 4 for our definitions. The only separation from school and day care in your definition is the lessons, thought these days daycares also do that. If society just wants government funded supervision while the parents engage in taxable labor for half their waking life (or more), we should just be honest about that.
tw8345 2y ago
Let me tell you as a parent I want no part of this AI garbage in the classroom. Its just an excuse to burn money the district does not have on software they dont need and that does not work. Id way rather our school district bought an Xtramath account and taught the kids math facts in a simple way than waste money on AI that does not work or feeds misinformation.
- soarerz 2y ago
  If your baseline is Xtramath - when did you last try to use chatgpt to solve problems at that level? Certainly seems like they work
  - tw8345 2y ago
    Its because the problem you need to solve isnt that hard and already solved, it does not need to have a crazy complex novel solution. . All you have to do is present the problem and solution set. xtra math isnt some sort of complex system and it does not need to be, its stupid simple and does the thing its supposed to do.
insane_dreamer 2y ago
I disagree

ukuina 2y ago

How is this different in effect from teacher resources like Classroom.com? Many websites provide teacher packs; this offering is a hyper-customized, always up-to-date version of the same.

endisneigh 2y ago
It’s completely different for the reasons you already mentioned. It’s like saying an abacus and a (digital) calculator are the same.
- lucubratory 2y ago
  An abacus and a calculator are the same.
  - skhunted 2y ago
    They are not the same. One is far more capable than the other. Can an abacus numerically solve a differential equation in a few seconds?

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

changoplatanero 2y ago

teachers unions don't have a monopoly on learning. they have a monopoly on the government provided childcare market

vundercind 2y ago

What does this do that’s so incredibly time-saving that you could cut specialists and aides? One may hope it’d just help teachers be a ton more effective, or at least less over-worked. We’d need about twice as many to deliver really good education, but instead the pool of teachers is shrinking, so we’re gonna need tech just to tread water on education quality.

vsuperpower2020 2y ago

This is a misunderstanding of the purpose of teachers in the US. They exist to babysit students while the parents work, and any learning that gets done is a bonus. You can't replace babysitting with online classes.

endisneigh 2y ago
I’m not talking about teachers, I’m talking about aides.

voidfunc 2y ago

Lol. Teachers are for babysitting. Learning is secondary. They'll be fine because we've decided the optimal babysitting ratio for teachers is somewhere between 30 and 50 students.

enavari 2y ago

Well I'm a teacher and I completely disagree. This if anything just levels the playing field by now giving poor kids tutors that rich families were paying for the whole time. Having a new teaching tool is no substitution for teachers. Teachers are there to classroom manage, manage/coach students to learn, and baby sit.

johnnyanmac 2y ago
>Teachers are there to classroom manage, manage/coach students to learn, and baby sit. If this is really what actual teachers think of teaching in 2024, Gen Alpha truly is doomed.
- 9dev 2y ago
  What do you think teachers are for instead? The learning part is on the student, anyway. You can only assist them while they do it. And that mostly means breaking down stuff into lessons, taking care of the learning environment, answering questions as they arise, keep students from cutting each others hair off, and keep them busy until their parents come home from work (although I agree the last part is a bit of a cynical take).
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    For a grade school teacher; 1. To teach students whatever society deems at the time is general education. This is straightforward, don't think I need to elaborate here. 2. To widen the horizons of the youth on what's possible to do in the world. Ideally they'd inspire students and guide them towards their potential passions and interests. I'd never be here in tech if my 4th/5th grade teacher didn't inspire me into STEM. He worked at NASA before, he was my first exposure to Carl Sagan, he had all sorts of neat astronomical examples ready whenever the science unit came up. I didn't end up as an astronomer, but it did show me something I never would have looked into otherwise as a kid 3. A resource (or pointer to a resource) for students. Be it if the students are struggling in studies, are curious about particular topics, or want to try and plan a future pursuit. They should help students not only learn, but learn to learn. 4. Lastly, as a state guardian. A teacher should be one a child should feels safe confiding with should issues involving their parents, peers, or even other teaches arises. They should have some emotional intelligence to balance between what administration wants and what the student needs at that time. This also may include identifying mental or medical issues in students, and at least able to start the trail of investigation should there be more than lack of interest holding some students back. If we compare notes we agree on #1, and you have maybe a small inkling of #3 and 4 for our definitions. The only separation from school and day care in your definition is the lessons, thought these days daycares also do that. If society just wants government funded supervision while the parents engage in taxable labor for half their waking life (or more), we should just be honest about that.

tw8345 2y ago

Let me tell you as a parent I want no part of this AI garbage in the classroom. Its just an excuse to burn money the district does not have on software they dont need and that does not work. Id way rather our school district bought an Xtramath account and taught the kids math facts in a simple way than waste money on AI that does not work or feeds misinformation.

soarerz 2y ago
If your baseline is Xtramath - when did you last try to use chatgpt to solve problems at that level? Certainly seems like they work
- tw8345 2y ago
  Its because the problem you need to solve isnt that hard and already solved, it does not need to have a crazy complex novel solution. . All you have to do is present the problem and solution set. xtra math isnt some sort of complex system and it does not need to be, its stupid simple and does the thing its supposed to do.

insane_dreamer 2y ago

I disagree