Live data from Hacker News

A high schooler writes about AI tools in the classroom

theatlantic.com

271–280 of 368 posts

Re: A high schooler writes about AI tools in the classroom

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> High school me was a moron and should not be trusted to do the real work and people who know better should force him to practice the skills lol I knew some people doing great at high school due to being forced to study. Then they taste the "freedom" in college and fail hard because no one tells them what to do now.

They might perform well, but might hate every second of it. I was like that. For example, high school poisoned reading for me. I hated fiction for several years after high school.

Right. I was forced to study, I hate it. Now I'm forced to work, quite good at what I do, but hate it as well.

Re: A high schooler writes about AI tools in the classroom

#272
An ex-gf of mine spent four years going through university to become an Occupational Therapist. She's severely dyslexic, so the university provided her with all sorts of assistance to get through her degree, from scribes in the exams to extra time for tests. She passed, and became a qualified Occupational Therapist. She landed a job in a local hospital. And on day one, was handed a huge pile of paperwork to complete. No scribes, no assistance, just "this is the job, get on with it". She failed the job, left after 3 months, spent a couple of years rethinking her entire life, and switched to a completely different career with less paperwork.

My point is that education has to be aligned with the actual world outside.

Everyone uses AI now, for all sorts of tasks. And if they don't now, they will in the next few years. Trying to exclude AI from education is not only pointless, it's doing the kids a disservice: AI is going to be a large part of their future, so it needs to be a large part of their education.

If we follow the implied course of TFA we'd reduce AI use in schools and go back to old-skool teaching methods. Then that cohort of kids would get their first job and on day one they'd be handed an AI and told "this is the job, get on with it". Like with my ex-gf, everything they were taught would be useless because the basic foundation is different.

I know education is not entirely vocational, but if it moves too far from the world of work that everyone actually spends most of their time in, then it gets too theoretical and academic. AI is part of it, education needs to change.

Re: A high schooler writes about AI tools in the classroom

#273

Unfortunately, this kind of story will continue to be a popular one in newspapers and magazines, garnering lots of clicks. It feeds into the "everything is different now" sort of desperate helplessness people seem primed to adopt with respect to AI sometimes. Obviously the answer to testing and grading is to do it in the classroom. If a computer is required, it can't connect to the internet. Caught with a cellphone,…

From The New York Times 1996, the internet is ruining education:

https://archive.is/qTAXR

It's an easy win for a journalist.

Re: A high schooler writes about AI tools in the classroom

#274
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s okay only if you’re okay deferring all power and agency to people who control the production and distribution of the tools.

Do you feel particularly anxious that you delegated your walking stamina or horsemanship to car manufacturers?

My kid can't leave our neighborhood on foot nor bike. There is no walking here. If he tried, I would be very, very anxious.

Re: A high schooler writes about AI tools in the classroom

#275

An ex-gf of mine spent four years going through university to become an Occupational Therapist. She's severely dyslexic, so the university provided her with all sorts of assistance to get through her degree, from scribes in the exams to extra time for tests. She passed, and became a qualified Occupational Therapist. She landed a job in a local hospital. And on day one, was handed a huge pile of paperwork to complete.…

Honing your own skills of logic, critical thinking and perseverance are never useless.

Re: A high schooler writes about AI tools in the classroom

#276

An ex-gf of mine spent four years going through university to become an Occupational Therapist. She's severely dyslexic, so the university provided her with all sorts of assistance to get through her degree, from scribes in the exams to extra time for tests. She passed, and became a qualified Occupational Therapist. She landed a job in a local hospital. And on day one, was handed a huge pile of paperwork to complete.…

Honing your own skills of logic, critical thinking and perseverance are never useless.

This is so important. There are studies that indicate cognitive decline due to use of AI

https://publichealthpolicyjournal.com/mit-study-finds-artifi...

Re: A high schooler writes about AI tools in the classroom

#277

An ex-gf of mine spent four years going through university to become an Occupational Therapist. She's severely dyslexic, so the university provided her with all sorts of assistance to get through her degree, from scribes in the exams to extra time for tests. She passed, and became a qualified Occupational Therapist. She landed a job in a local hospital. And on day one, was handed a huge pile of paperwork to complete.…

> Trying to exclude AI from education is not only pointless, it's doing the kids a disservice: AI is going to be a large part of their future, so it needs to be a large part of their education.

Hard hard hard hard disagree.

Everyone uses a calculator, even to calculate tips at a restaurant, but kids still need to learn arithmetic without a calculator's aid first.

I spent my CS education learning things that I never come across in my practical career, but I would have been done a disservice and be worse at my career if I just practiced what my career was going to be.

> I know education is not entirely vocational, but if it moves too far from the world of work that everyone actually spends most of their time in, then it gets too theoretical and academic.

Again, hard disagree. Most people's jobs go up a ladder where the entry level is not at all like academia, and as you become responsible for larger and larger autonomous units and divisions, etc. your work becomes more and more theoretical and academic, more about experimenting, formulating theses about the world, testing your hypothesis, being flexible as the results come in, etc.

Re: A high schooler writes about AI tools in the classroom

#278

Unfortunately, this kind of story will continue to be a popular one in newspapers and magazines, garnering lots of clicks. It feeds into the "everything is different now" sort of desperate helplessness people seem primed to adopt with respect to AI sometimes. Obviously the answer to testing and grading is to do it in the classroom. If a computer is required, it can't connect to the internet. Caught with a cellphone,…

From The New York Times 1996, the internet is ruining education: https://archive.is/qTAXR It's an easy win for a journalist.

I mean, it kind of did...

Look at our political leaders now vs in the 1990s as an example of how poorly educated we are now

Re: A high schooler writes about AI tools in the classroom

#279
post #42

I’m an AI engineer but I think schools need a nuclear option Banish tech in schools (including cell phones) (except during comp classes) but allow it at home Ie in high school only allow paper and pencil/pen Go back to written exams (handwriting based) Be lenient on spelling and grammer Allow homework, digital tutoring AI assistants and AI only when it not primary- ie for homework not in class work Bring back oral ex…

Back in the day we were writing code on paper (or on punched cards, using them as a paper substitute, as there were a lot of them left over from the Soviet times and they looked very "computer-y"), so even during computer classes you didn't necessarily need a computer. Not that I really think that it can still work in the year 2025 and beyond...

In my Uni we still had some coding test done with pen and paper (2014-2018), and AFAIK, they're still doing them. I even done a part of an exam in assembly with a provided Xilinx PicoBlaze assembly mnemonics list.

I don't know why people demonize them. If you know the syntax you're asked for, you can write in that language, and if you were asked to write in pseudo-code some algorithms, you should be able without any additional computerize help.

Re: A high schooler writes about AI tools in the classroom

#280

An ex-gf of mine spent four years going through university to become an Occupational Therapist. She's severely dyslexic, so the university provided her with all sorts of assistance to get through her degree, from scribes in the exams to extra time for tests. She passed, and became a qualified Occupational Therapist. She landed a job in a local hospital. And on day one, was handed a huge pile of paperwork to complete.…

And lawyers also use paralegals, that doesnt mean we let law students hire them to write papers or assist during exams. Docs have nurses, but i believe docs still write exams solo. And soldiers have buddies, but you arent allowed to pay them to do your fitness test.

That a tool is common in the real world is not an excuse to let students outsource the work that is the heart of learning.

Post reply on HN