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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

#341

Post by [deleted] »

hb53821 wrote: post #335
bilsbie wrote: post #223

I have this problem too! I wrote up this system prompt I want to set on my daughters account. You’re welcome to try using it and let me know it goes. (When I made a new chatgpt account for her it wouldn’t load. I need to try to set it up again) Prompt: This is my 9th graders account. She has been trying to avoid learning or even thinking by copy and pasting homework and quiz questions into chatgpt and not even readin…

Super interesting idea. I don't have a ChatGPT account otherwise I'd try this myself but can someone try this question from the article, "how many hours are there in 1 day and 7 hours?" with and without the prompt? I'm very curious if it has any effect on the result.

[deleted]

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

#342

Post by robocat »

robocat wrote: post #166
theamk wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's how universities lose their reputation, and that's why the programmer hiring process is so complicated.

Harvard passes 98% of intake. The quality of the teaching or learning seems almost irrelevant already.

(Edit) link confirming 98%: https://college.harvard.edu/resources/faq/what-harvards-grad...

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

#343

Post by JellyBeanThief »

DylanDmitri wrote: post #323
jjice wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Parents that believe it is solely the school/teacher's job to educate their child. My sister works with kids on their speech at a school and she's said that it's _bad_ how many children can't read or tell you what letter their first name starts with. She says that the teachers are getting flack at parent-teacher meetings because of this, but those are things that their parents teach them! I thought the "kids are il…

Decline of the stay at home mom. Both parents tired from work means less quality attention, less consistent meals, etc..

Sounds like we need to shorten the work week

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

#344

Post by throwaway314155 »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #114
CharlieDigital wrote: post #106

My 13 y/o was lamenting something the other day and it turns out that she had written a paper and pasted it into ChatGPT and asked it to grade the paper and it returned a "B+". She was using GPT to basically pre-check the quality of her paper before submitting it after having actually written it herself. But it occurred to me that there are probably teachers out there who are taking the lazy route of using GPT to gra…

> it turns out that she had written a paper and pasted it into ChatGPT and asked it to grade the paper that's one of the better uses of ChatGPT I've heard of

Sounds highly unreliable to me. I would be very surprised if ChatGPT was ever confrontational enough to give out a lower grade like D or F. It also wouldn't surprise me if the grade-letter it chooses tends to be off by one or more grade-letters just due to natural variance/subjectivity of grading and hallucinations.

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

#345

Post by JellyBeanThief »

wendyshu wrote: post #340
dcchambers wrote: post #219

I think one thing few are willing to admit is that a large blame for this can be placed on disinterested parents. Parents that believe it is solely the school/teacher's job to educate their child. When kids are at home, parents should be involved in the learning process. You don't have to be a helicopter and monitor everything, but you should take interest in the work your child is doing. If you check in at least onc…

You mean uninterested?

It's worth noting that a lot of parents forced to go through with unplanned pregnancies are uninterested. They didn't want their children, and they will do the bare minimum necessary to keep them alive until 18.

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

#346

Post by throwaway314155 »

mberning wrote: post #69
Peacefulz wrote: post #3

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 I wonder how LLMs are going to affect these metrics.

It 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.

> 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).

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

#348

Post by Terr_ »

alephxyz wrote: post #65
johnfn wrote: post #5

The people who thought up the Chinese Room argument were almost right - they just didn't realize it would be the human who didn't understand anything.

Isn't that exactly the Chinese room argument though? The human/computer in the room doesn't need to understand Chinese or English to translate?

I kinda interpreted it as: "Here's an example of something which we would not call intelligence if you knew how it worked, therefore our definition of intelligence must somehow involve process or understanding, not just results."

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

#349

Post by iteratethis »

Many children have always hated homework and sought ways to avoid it or cut corners. This tool is disturbing in that you actually do finish the homework, yet in a way where you learn nothing at all.

I personally believe children should have no homework or far less of it. Typical education lasts 12-21 years. An insane amount of time. Use the lesson time more effectively and give kids some breathing room.

Disturbing detail of the post is this young girl watching Squid Games. This is a show where a few dozen people get executed each episode. Some are shot and kept alive so that their organs are fresh for harvesting.

How on earth do you let a 11 y/o girl watch that?

All of this seems like total neglect, but frankly I understand it (somewhat). The modern couples I know are dual income. By the time they're done with work, dinner and cleaning up, it's 8PM. Now we expect them to dig into the homework of their children and micro manage every media they consume? They don't have the time and energy and often don't even understand half of it.

Dual income society is a societal disaster.

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

#350

Post by Terr_ »

falcor84 wrote: post #125
mherrmann wrote: post #66

Let's dig deeper. Level 0: this is bad. Level -1: The teaching methods need to change. Level -2: It's a glimpse into all of our future, not just children. Level -3: Who controls the AI controls the world.

And that of course is a reason to repost this wonderful exchange in "A Clash of Kings": > In a room sit three great men, a king, a priest, and a rich man with his gold. Between them stands a sellsword, a little man of common birth and no great mind. Each of the great ones bids him slay the other two. ‘Do it,’ says the king, ‘for I am your lawful ruler.’ ‘Do it,’ says the priest, ‘for I command you in the names of the…

That analogy rests on some precarious assumptions, like:

1. That the "AI" being bandied about (read: LLMs) really is able to "kill" the other blocs.

2. That such an action will be safe from retaliation.

3. That software engineers actually control/own enough of everything to pull that "trigger" unilaterally.

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