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My little sister's use of ChatGPT for homework is heartbreaking

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Re: My little sister's use of ChatGPT for homework is heartbreaking

#201
post #172

When I was in elementary school, my teachers told me it was very important to memorize multiplication tables because I wouldn't always have a calculator in my pocket. We know how that turned out. I asked an LLM the first example question (convert 3 minutes to seconds), and it provided not just the answer, but that there are 60 seconds per minutes, so that's 3 * 60 = 180. I don't think an 11 year old is harmed by that…

There’s a difference between not knowing multiplication and just refusing any logical thinking at all. We already see this a lot in adults today. Many are just too lazy to turn on their brain, because it’s easier to call, ask on Reddit or whatever, even if it takes ten times longer than just doing the thinking yourself. This is just the perfection of that. And it’s suuuuper scary, because it trains you to be a brain…

Every study done on the topic of “people judging the stupidity of other people” always proves this comment incorrect.

With or without AI, we have always thought we are of wildly above average intelligence and that “all the other people are brain dead zombies.”

This is just a classic human bias since we don’t ever experience what goes on inside anyones head but ours.

Everything is going to be just fine.

Re: My little sister's use of ChatGPT for homework is heartbreaking

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My daughter is only 1 and a half years old now, but my concern is more that she'll be implicitly competing with classmates that are using tools like this, whether we allow her to use them or not.

competing with what? your score doesnt vary based on others. i came here to laugh at this thread.. no different than calculators and google both of which were misused in the same way. and then people who are "worried" about it and use that as an excuse to do it themselves. and now you know why the tech industry sucks

In some (college) classes it does. Some classes are graded on a curve, which means the bottom scoring kids automatically fail, some percentage passes.

Re: My little sister's use of ChatGPT for homework is heartbreaking

#204
post #172

When I was in elementary school, my teachers told me it was very important to memorize multiplication tables because I wouldn't always have a calculator in my pocket. We know how that turned out. I asked an LLM the first example question (convert 3 minutes to seconds), and it provided not just the answer, but that there are 60 seconds per minutes, so that's 3 * 60 = 180. I don't think an 11 year old is harmed by that…

> We know how that turned out.

Yeah... good and useful.

Re: My little sister's use of ChatGPT for homework is heartbreaking

#205
Using ChatGPT like this is most likely a symptom, not the problem. An 11 year old is naturally a curious creature and if she's turned her brain off to the point of mindlessly solving her homework like this, there's something very wrong with her environment.

Re: My little sister's use of ChatGPT for homework is heartbreaking

#206

Some 15 years ago I recall some schools in California bragging about their success in flipping the school schedule around. They had students watch lectures at home as videos. Then during class they did "homework". Seems like this method is going to become a necessity if students can just prompt "Hey GPT. Do my homework for me. Thanks." at home every day.

I think it's a great idea that the delivery of the material is done by video, and then the engagement with it, the exercises etc., are done with a teacher.

That flipping strikes me as sensible.

Re: My little sister's use of ChatGPT for homework is heartbreaking

#207
Is this a ChatGPT problem or a family system problem? My child is eight years old and writes significantly better than the writer. Her mom and I value education, reading and writing so we work with her throughout the school year.

If an older sibling writes that poorly, I feel there are other things going on than overreliance on technology. I hope she makes it through this because the world is becoming increasingly hostile to people with poor literacy.

Re: My little sister's use of ChatGPT for homework is heartbreaking

#208

It's worth noting people probably reacted to this like they did with calculators, and perhaps, encyclopedias. I see this use a bit differently: as a teacher that scales (and is probably more accurate that a human, hallucinations and other concerns notwithstanding). I see my kids using it in a similar manner as described in this post, but I also see their curiosity piqued and them asking all kinds of theoretical and c…

If an LLM can answer the HW questions so easily, then maybe it's an issue with the HW and not the LLM/student.

Re: My little sister's use of ChatGPT for homework is heartbreaking

#209
post #206

Some 15 years ago I recall some schools in California bragging about their success in flipping the school schedule around. They had students watch lectures at home as videos. Then during class they did "homework". Seems like this method is going to become a necessity if students can just prompt "Hey GPT. Do my homework for me. Thanks." at home every day.

I think it's a great idea that the delivery of the material is done by video, and then the engagement with it, the exercises etc., are done with a teacher. That flipping strikes me as sensible.

Knowing that the vast majority of parents will not check or enforce school work at home, either because they don't care or can't (2 jobs etc) ...

You have to choose which one actually happens. That seems to me to be the lecture.

Additionally teachers are very opposed to doing extra work (this seems to be a Gen-Z thing: even with doctors you see this, there was an article about doctors refusing to do emergency rooms shifts during covid because they didn't want to pull more hours ...). So you'll need to get teachers that are willing to do a LOT of extra work (and compensated accordingly), and prevent people from sabotaging that system.

Either that or you could make schools pretty exclusive again. Which is what the default outcome will be if we don't act.

Re: My little sister's use of ChatGPT for homework is heartbreaking

#210
It's hard to know how worrying or damning this usage pattern is.

Speaking personally, I never did any homework, as I found it incredibly dull. So I don't really find it that worrying someone shirking their homework.

The replacement of thought with using ChatGPT does seem worrying though.

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