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Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes

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Re: Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes

#11

Post by alephnerd »

readthenotes1 wrote: post #10

“I’m a strong, strong opponent of what Harvard is doing to say that only a fraction of students can earn A’s,” Garcia said. “I think you should have clear standards for what an A means, and then give tons of opportunity for people … to get to that A bar without lowering the standard. So everybody who’s curving is hiding that effect. It’s completely hiding that effect, and it’s pretending as if nothing’s wrong, and so…

I'm confused by Garcia's statement as well because CS@Cal traditionally uses a bell curve which is even stricter than Harvard's changes, because Harvard doesn't have the same stringent GPA requirements to declare a concentration unlike declaring an impacted major at L&S Cal.

Anyone with a pulse can declare a CS concentration at Harvard and muddle by (you actually need to try in order to get a C/C-). Of course, GPAs are calculated differently at Harvard compared to other universities, as a B- is treated at a 2.67 but most other programs treat that as a C+.

Re: Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes

#12

Post by com2kid »

At this point I would support a ban on generative AI by anyone under 18, or even perhaps 21 years of age.

A bunch of science fiction stories had "first connection to cyberspace" as a coming of age event, maybe those authors were on to something.

Re: Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes

#13

Post by j45 »

readthenotes1 wrote: post #10

“I’m a strong, strong opponent of what Harvard is doing to say that only a fraction of students can earn A’s,” Garcia said. “I think you should have clear standards for what an A means, and then give tons of opportunity for people … to get to that A bar without lowering the standard. So everybody who’s curving is hiding that effect. It’s completely hiding that effect, and it’s pretending as if nothing’s wrong, and so…

Grades only matter as much as being able to transfer just to the real world.

People can use AI to outsource their learning, but if they use ai to outsource their understanding they just set themselves up to fail even more.

From what I’ve seen, how students are using ai (not that they are using ai) is making them less prepared for the real world, which unfortunately is changing faster than ever at the same time to create double impact.

Re: Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes

#14

Post by nullisland00 »

alephnerd wrote: post #9
threatofrain wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question comes sooner than the students being tested on the job market. Another possibility is that dropping standardized testing was a net bad idea.

This is orthogonal to standardized testing. At UC Berkeley L&S, students are undeclared by default, and everyone is incentivized to take the intro CS classes (CS10, CS61A) irrespective of aptitude because worst case they can declare a CS minor or use the classes for other adjacent degrees (eg. Applied Math, Data Science). Additionally, while Cal doesn't require standardized tests, most students who applied and attend…

CS is now in the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society instead of the College of Letters & Science

Re: Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes

#15

Post by MengerSponge »

readthenotes1 wrote: post #10

“I’m a strong, strong opponent of what Harvard is doing to say that only a fraction of students can earn A’s,” Garcia said. “I think you should have clear standards for what an A means, and then give tons of opportunity for people … to get to that A bar without lowering the standard. So everybody who’s curving is hiding that effect. It’s completely hiding that effect, and it’s pretending as if nothing’s wrong, and so…

In a broad sense, this distinction between Harvard and Cal is the distinction between an old money Ivy and a flagship state school. One exists to propagate a social hierarchy, and the other aims to allow all entrants to succeed.

Ironically, the techniques of the latter yield the results of the first, but everybody gets to keep a pure heart.

Re: Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes

#16

Post by MengerSponge »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #5

I read something interesting yesterday on the subject of AI in education (though, it has consequences to broader society too): The goal of education is to impart knowledge in the student, preferably correct knowledge. The goal of an LLM is to produce an output that is convincingly human. It's not even that they're opposed, as much as they're ships for whom Polaris is in a completely different direction. "Hallucinatio…

Some people need Jesus, but y'all need Kant ;)

"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance."

https://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/CCREAD/etscc/kant.html

Re: Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes

#17

Post by alephnerd »

nullisland00 wrote: post #14
alephnerd wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is orthogonal to standardized testing. At UC Berkeley L&S, students are undeclared by default, and everyone is incentivized to take the intro CS classes (CS10, CS61A) irrespective of aptitude because worst case they can declare a CS minor or use the classes for other adjacent degrees (eg. Applied Math, Data Science). Additionally, while Cal doesn't require standardized tests, most students who applied and attend…

CS is now in the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society instead of the College of Letters & Science

Huh. TIL Cal started a College of Computing in 2023 with direct admissions into CS.

Re: Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes

#18

Post by hanzeweiasa »

com2kid wrote: post #12

At this point I would support a ban on generative AI by anyone under 18, or even perhaps 21 years of age. A bunch of science fiction stories had "first connection to cyberspace" as a coming of age event, maybe those authors were on to something.

[flagged]

Re: Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes

#19

Post by MengerSponge »

alephnerd wrote: post #6

"According to Berkeleytime, 35.3% of CS 10 students and 10.6% of CS 61A students received F’s in spring 2026" Alternatively, more students are taking CS10 and CS61A irrespective of aptitude. Anyone can code, but not everyone can become an employable SWE. Anyone who has first or second hand experience with Cal or any other university knows how impacted CS majors have become, and how everyone is attempting to become a…

Spring 2026 saw a marked shift in student performance. We saw it in intro physics courses on the East coast too. I bet anyone who cared to look saw it.

Re: Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes

#20

Post by rogerrogerr »

christophilus wrote: post #3
loneboat wrote: post #2

What a terribly ambiguous title. "Failing grades soar after xyz" makes it sound like xyz has helped what were previously terrible, failing grades become good ones.

Failing news headlines soar after AI takes over reporters jobs.

*quietly takes over reporters’ jobs
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