trashboat

joined 7 months ago
[–] trashboat@midwest.social 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

I may disagree with you that the ability to write alone is where the problem is. In my view, LLMs are further exposing that our education system is doing a very poor job of teaching kids to think critically. It seems to me that this discussion tends to be targeted at A) Kids who already don’t want to be at school, and B) Kids who are taking classes simply to fulfill a requirement by their district— and both are using LLMs as a way to pass a class that they either don’t care about or don’t have the energy to pass without it.

What irked me about this headline is labeling them as “cheaters,” and I got push-back for challenging that. I ask again: if public education is not engaging you as a student, what is your incentive not to use AI to write your paper? Why are we requiring kids to learn how to write annotated bibliographies when they already know that they aren’t interested in pursuing research? A lot of the stuff we’re still teaching kids doesn’t make any sense.

I believe a solution cuts both ways:

A) Find something that makes them want to think critically. Project-based learning still appears to be one of the best catalysts for making this happen, but we should be targeting it towards real-world industries, and we should be doing it more quickly. As a personal example: I didn’t need to take 4 months of biology in high school to know that I didn’t want to do it for a living. I participated in FIRST Robotics for 4 years, and that program alone gave me a better chance than any in the classroom to think critically, exercise leadership skills, and learn soft and hard skills on my way to my chosen career path. I’ve watched the program turn lights on in kids’ heads as they finally understand what they want to do for a living. It gave them purpose and something worth learning for; isn’t that what this is all about anyway?

B) LLMs (just like calculators, the internet, and other mainstream technologies that have emerged in recent memory) are not going anywhere. I hate all the corporate bullshit surrounding AI just as much as the next user on here, but LLMs still add significant value to select professions. We should be teaching all kids how to use LLMs as an extension of their brain rather than as a replacement for it, and especially rather than universally demonizing it.

[–] trashboat@midwest.social 6 points 2 months ago

Also btw young people never drove sales. The reason is simple: They're broke.

And are more broke now than in recent memory. I’m a bit surprised this point is flying under the radar

[–] trashboat@midwest.social -3 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Do we have to throw mud at “cheating” students? I’ve been hearing similar stuff about K-12 for a while with regards to looking up answers on the internet, but if the coursework is rote enough that an LLM can do it for you, then A. As a student taking gen-eds that have no obvious correlation to your degree, why wouldn’t you use it? And B. It might just be past time to change the curriculum

[–] trashboat@midwest.social 9 points 3 months ago (9 children)

Again… So much proprietary software is the industry standard, particularly Adobe, and much of it is Linux-compatible, making it not so easy to make the switch as a freelancer

[–] trashboat@midwest.social 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Honestly itch.io has plenty of free indie gems that can last me just as long as throwing $80 at a AAA game. I’d rather donate/tip after the fact for genuine well-crafted experiences

[–] trashboat@midwest.social 2 points 3 months ago

Haha same here

[–] trashboat@midwest.social 8 points 3 months ago

Don’t know if this fits the bill for you or not but my partner occasionally falls into the clutches of the Sims on their laptop. They’ve customized their installation with lots of outfit + hairstyle mods and expansions, so you kinda get to make it your own

[–] trashboat@midwest.social 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Hopefully there won’t be a Joe Manchin situation where just one of the liberals starts siding with the conservatives on just about everything to negate the majority (though I may be misinterpreting how the system works, I’m not super aware of how Canada’s legislature functions)

I blame Manchin alone for a lot of what we weren’t able to get done under Biden

[–] trashboat@midwest.social 68 points 3 months ago (4 children)

“Sleepy Joe,” huh

[–] trashboat@midwest.social 7 points 3 months ago

Appreciate you posting all of these picks in this community Mr Dragon Reborn

And obligatory lol to Shadeur sliding to day 3

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