5 ms·
I'm not trying to justify, or infer here, but I read recently that around 20% of American adults are functionally illiterate. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019
by Peacefulz 2y ago
I'm not trying to justify, or infer here, but I read recently that around 20% of American adults are functionally illiterate.
https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019179/index.asp https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019179/index.asp
I wonder how LLMs are going to affect these metrics.
- jmclnx 2y agoI also saw an article on here that to me that seems to support your statement: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42609948 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42609948 I also have a relative going for a PHD, he says many times for the classes he teaches, students are using AI for their homework. He has brought that up may times to his superiors but the response tends to be "oh well". Sad world we may be heading towards :(
- torpfactory 2y agoIt’s a bit like the old saying about the banks: “If you owe the bank $10,000 it’s your problem. If you owe the bank $10,000,000 it’s the banks problem”. If everyone in class is using LLMs to cheat, it’s really the university/instructors problem and it may be easier to bury their heads in the sand then to change their teaching methods and lesson plans. You can’t fail them all…
- devin 2y agoWhy not?
- ramblenode 2y agoToday the university is a business and the students are the customers.
- Herring 2y agoInertia. They were cheating a lot when I was a TA, but using whatsapp groups and other online resources. Nothing changed then, and it probably won't change much now.
- physicsguy 2y agoWhen I taught a class of engineering students Python in 2015 they were all copying from each other, did some basic plagiarism checks and 40% had submitted identical code. The University then didn’t care, lots of international students paying higher fees than domestic students.
- theamk 2y agoThat's how universities lose their reputation, and that's why the programmer hiring process is so complicated.
- TZubiri 2y agoIf you consider that plagiarism it's a bit overzealous. Definitely not in the same league as asking chatgpt to solve for you. Working with or seeking information from colleagues is a valid and essential part of university.
- physicsguy 2y agoIt is plagiarism, we’re not talking simple weekly assignment, it was a core course and it was a 40% of the module. They had to write a report along with it and two Chinese students had copied much of that from Wikipedia and had the same exact passages!
- 2y ago
- mberning 2y agoIt has to be much higher than that. Look at the reddit op. I assume this person is nearly an adult and their writing is very broken and meandering. Sure you could argue “it’s just a reddit post”, but I find how people write informally is generally indicative of their overall writing ability.
- throwaway314155 2y ago> how people write informally is generally indicative of their overall writing ability I don't think that's true... I personally change writing styles often depending on who I am talking to. It's effectively code switching but on the internet. Not to say that this redditor isn't like that - but there are more objective cues from the content of their post than from the spelling/grammar of their post (like how they choose to watch their sibling develop bad learning habits and rather than doing something about it, they make dramatic complaints about how her whole generation is screwed on Reddit).
- satvikpendem 2y agoCode switching. I don't write my reddit comments like I do my HN ones, my emails, my formal papers, etc.
- mightyham 2y agoIn the context of discussing the American education system, the more relevant figure is the number of native born functionally illiterate adults which, according to that source, is roughly 14%.
- astura 2y agoAlmost 30 years ago, at my first job, a coworker got mad at someone and broke a broom. He was trying to write a letter to apologize and he couldn't. Couldn't meaning he was really trying but he didn't have the writing skills to write "I'm sorry that I broke a broom." The rest of the employees helped him.
- doctorpangloss 2y agoIt’s more like 50% of survey respondents are at a literacy level where they can read a letter but not understand what it means.
- nashashmi 2y agoScreen readers might help. LLMs too.
- steve_adams_86 2y agoIt's similar in Canada: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/home/accessible-government/toolkit/audience-diversity https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/home/accessible-governmen... Over 40% possess literacy so poor that it isn't considered sufficient to cope with daily demands.
- TZubiri 2y agoThe US must be one of the few countries were the concept of movies with subtitles doesn't exist.
- fivelorn 2y agoYou need to be able to read to use an LLM (the second "L" is particularly salient).
- tasuki 2y agoActually voice
- hb53821 2y agoThat is terrifying. But what is the trend? Maybe it’s historically low. I tried Googling around and could only find recent data of that same 2019 report.