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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

#751

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

adamtaylor_13 wrote: post #686
emsign wrote: post #630

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure sure whatever suits you. But I personally have a very strong aversion to losing my intelligence.

The presumption that we're losing "intelligence" is unproven and widely debated. I'd prefer "capability" over raw intellect any day, and my capability is definitely greater than it was a year ago.

There's nothing to debate about "use it or lose it"; the reduction in numeracy after the adoption of pocket calculators is well established.

And "capability" is the measure of the mere assembly line worker. "Raw intellect" is the measure of the inventors and creators.

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

#752

Post by xadhominemx »

grey-area wrote: post #113
xadhominemx wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me it is crazy that you are being downvoted. My experience in academia was that an incredible amount of time was devoted to data cleansing analysis, coding, etc., which were completely non-core to the actual underlying academic pursuit.

Data cleansing is a terrible use for LLMs if you want reliable data.

This comment may have been true 6-9 months ago, but not today

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

#753

Post by logicalmind »

greenchair wrote: post #700
schnitzelstoat wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not American so maybe I am missing some context. But how did admissions work without test scores?

Excellent question. Sorry that's not allowed. DEI is the name of the game.

I'm curious as to what you're implying with the DEI comment. It is often used to imply that white people are being disadvantaged in favor of minorities. But I highly suggest you take look at the demographics of the standardized test scores. Heck, take a look at the demographics of any of the top schools in the country. Berkeley included. Many of the school groups, business, clubs, etc. wouldn't have any white people in them if it wasn't a DEI requirement. Source, my daughter is a junior at Berkeley.

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

#754

Post by logicalmind »

throwatdem12311 wrote: post #290
ap99 wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who even makes the decision to drop having a standard bar to verify students? And what possible benefit would that have?

Why else does anyone in California get rid of anything? Because it’s racist.

You should probably take a look at the demographics of the top scores of the standardized tests like the SAT. You're not going to find the race you think at the top.

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

#755

Post by lokar »

ChickeNES wrote: post #713
lokar wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My CS program required one year of upper division math. But you could take anything (I took set theory and meta-logic from the philosophy department, it was actually pretty hard!). They did not care about the specific math skills, they wanted us to have a level of mathematical formalism and reasoning, which was in fact important for the CS classes.

Mine required very specific courses, including Discrete Math, which I scraped by in. Almost 15 years later and I have never needed any of the upper level math I was forced to take and wish I could have just taken more applied CS classes instead.

We had to take calc, linear algebra, Boolean algebra and combinatorics the 1st two years

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

#756

Post by brewdad »

lukan wrote: post #658
mywittyname wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And now your friends and coworkers will send you AI generated mail anyway This hits close. I realized one of my friends was using AI to message me and I took it kind of hard. It's weird to be worth the effort for them to set up a chat bot to talk to me but not worth the 2-3mins a week to actually read/respond to my messages. Right now, I just basically ghosted him, but I have teh feeling this is the start of an eme…

Are you sure he is sending automated messages, or used LLM to polish up some writing? Would be a difference to me, but .. still weird.

No message between friends should ever need “polishing” unless you are trying to deliver really bad news in the softest way possible.

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

#757

Post by adi_kurian »

camelmel wrote: post #104
adi_kurian wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do any of said PhDs gain anything positive from LLM usage? Or does it only lead to declining thinking skills in your view?

Yes, I can churn out a lot more stuff as can most of my peers. Experiments etc are all way faster to run with coding agents. But I think the overall creativity and originality is a lot lower. I think this is what many people are facing, if you don't use LLMs your short term productivity is worse.

I was asking about the kids!

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

#758

Post by brewdad »

abustamam wrote: post #683
Uncle_Brumpus wrote: post #633

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am notoriously "bad" at texting. My phone's on silent almost 95% of the time, I don't even have a smartphone so the only way to get to me wirelessly is to call or text. I got really into sending mail last year, specifically postcards. I have a list of ~10 people I would consider "close", immediate family and good friends, and 5 or 6 more tertiary contacts. I travel fairly frequently, so I had plenty of opportunitie…

I like this. I don't know what postcard etiquette is, but when I send a postcard it's just to show that I'm thinking of someone while I'm traveling. If the recipient doesn't travel or finds other ways to express that they're thinking or me while traveling (souvenir, etc) I'd consider that social contract fulfilled.

I haven’t sent a postcard in years but I always thought it was a signal that I am having a great time but also you are important enough to me that I want to include you in the only way I can. I certainly never expected a direct response but hoped I might receive a postcard from that friend at some unexpected future time.

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

#759

Post by CamperBob2 »

LtWorf wrote: post #718
CamperBob2 wrote: post #691

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That... is not a good idea. Inexpensive calculators were relatively new when I was that age, and I learned so much just playing with them.

What exactly did you learn?

Among other things, I learned that I was really, really into computing machinery.

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

#760

Post by brewdad »

octoberfranklin wrote: post #742
Auracle wrote: post #604

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish that would have worked for me - we had oral tests. 2 years of French in high school and one semester at college - what an absolute waste of time. How much French do I know now? Basically none. The same goes for everyone in my life that did Spanish instead in high school. Part of what we could do during this upset is re-prioritize.

Wow, really? I took four years of Spanish in high school, and thirty-ish years later I can hold basic conversations with people, ask for things, answer their questions.

I’m about the same age as you and at a similar level of ability at this point. I tested out of all 16 credit hours of foreign language requirements at my university but my current Spanish skills are nowhere near what will be required of me to function well in Mexico when we retire there.
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