I teach 18 year olds who range in reading levels from preschool to college, but the majority of them are in the lower half that range. I am devastated by what AI and social media have done to them. My kids don’t think anymore. They don’t have interests. Literally, when I ask them what they’re interested in, so many of them can’t name anything for me. Even my smartest kids insist that ChatGPT is good “when used correctly.” I ask them, “How does one use it correctly then?” They can’t answer the question. They don’t have original thoughts. They just parrot back what they’ve heard in TikToks. They try to show me “information” ChatGPT gave them. I ask them, “How do you know this is true?” They move their phone closer to me for emphasis, exclaiming, “Look, it says it right here!” They cannot understand what I am asking them. It breaks my heart for them and honestly it makes it hard to continue teaching. If I were to quit, it would be because of how technology has stunted kids and how hard it’s become to reach them because of that.
Great point. Somewhere along the way we started teaching facts and formulas instead of showing kids that learning is fun and encouraging them to do it on their own because they enjoy it and not because they have to…
Sigh, imagine an education system like that, instead of the current pipeline for creating obedient drones, holy crap…
I think the easiest way to achieve something like that is to homeschool together with a like minded commune that has the knowledge and passion for teaching, that way the kid doesn’t lose out on the social aspects of school, but it’s not ideal. Wish education would get more investment before other things, it’s the best long term investment for a country, invest in smarter future generations to get a better country for all