Education Reform Thread

[kuronosan]

Seriously fuck you

[Sirious]

That's the goal. Fuck them kids. Improve the school to prison pipeline and create domestic prison slaves to power the workforce.

[6souls]

https://x.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1932147330045599903

Um..

[Gredival]

https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.08872

AI is not a helpful tool that we need to teach our children to use. Even without the massive potential for misuse and abuse, it is still destructive to future performance.

Any productivity it creates right now with trained workers is going to disappear when we have workers that are useless without it.

[kuronosan]

Yes. Like calculators.

[Gredival]

Yes. Like calculators.

You realize we do teach people how to do all the functions programmed into calculators right? We don't just teach students how to use calculators in math, they have to understand what the functions do.

Limiting AI is the same idea. We need to teach students how to do research themselves, how to sort through research themselves, how to write themselves. Allowing them access to AI before developing these skills means that they simply don't develop them.

[Daydreamer]

You realize we do teach people how to do all the functions programmed into calculators right? We don't just teach students how to use calculators in math, they have to understand what the functions do.

Limiting AI is the same idea. We need to teach students how to do research themselves, how to sort through research themselves, how to write themselves. Allowing them access to AI before developing these skills means that they simply don't develop them.

Specifically with calculators, I wasn't allowed to use them in any math class in college for this exact reason. The teachers knew in the real world we would and should be using them, but knowing what is going on in the background is so incredibly helpful.

[synistar]

I remember in my AP calculus exams the teacher designed questions where calculators would not spit out the most simplified answers, and she deducted points for that. Especially when trig identities were present.

[Emphasis]

On the topic of addressing problematic learning conditions for kids, I learned recently from a friend that their daughter's elementary school made homework optional, and tests are done at home.

I went to the same school when I was that age, and I could never imagine those kind of decisions would be implemented in the future. Of course my friend is on top of her kids education, so homework is definitely not optional in that household and after-school activities and learning is justifiably considered a necessity.


This also lines up with what my former 5th grade teacher who just retired told me-- that she was noticing more and more students were not performing at the level they should be compared to previous years.

[Mertron]

I remember in my AP calculus exams the teacher designed questions where calculators would not spit out the most simplified answers, and she deducted points for that. Especially when trig identities were present.

when i took ap calc/physics exams back in the stone age, you were required to show the work for how you got to your answer, so just putting stuff in the calculator and writing down the answer wouldn’t get you anywhere

in fact, even if you got the question wrong, you could still get credit for part of the answer if you showed the correct process

[Daydreamer]

when i took ap calc/physics exams back in the stone age, you were required to show the work for how you got to your answer, so just putting stuff in the calculator and writing down the answer wouldn’t get you anywhere

in fact, even if you got the question wrong, you could still get credit for part of the answer if you showed the correct process

Yup! I got plenty of "9/10" on questions because everything was right then I messed up like subtraction or something dumb at the end and my teachers weren't complete jerks.

[kuronosan]

You realize we do teach people how to do all the functions programmed into calculators right? We don't just teach students how to use calculators in math, they have to understand what the functions do.

Limiting AI is the same idea. We need to teach students how to do research themselves, how to sort through research themselves, how to write themselves. Allowing them access to AI before developing these skills means that they simply don't develop them.

Uh huh. Like calculators.

[Roranora]

AI is just like a calculator, checkmate

[Kaisha]

This also lines up with what my former 5th grade teacher who just retired told me-- that she was noticing more and more students were not performing at the level they should be compared to previous years.

We talking previous years as in the whole pandemic era which did have a large impact on a kid's ability to learn, or prior to that? I figure we'd be seeing a dip still in learning proficiency for a couple more years still if it's from pandemic onwards.

Any productivity it creates right now with trained workers is going to disappear when we have workers that are useless without it.

I just worry that there'll be a generation growing up that can't do any critical thinking and figure out how to get solutions on their own.

[Gredival]

We talking previous years as in the whole pandemic era which did have a large impact on a kid's ability to learn, or prior to that? I figure we'd be seeing a dip still in learning proficiency for a couple more years still if it's from pandemic onwards.


I just worry that there'll be a generation growing up that can't do any critical thinking and figure out how to get solutions on their own.

They are already in school right now.

College professors at top schools say current students are wildly underprepared compared to before (though some of that might be noise due to testing optional), but I can tell you it's terrible in high school. I've heard from several career teachers with 30+ years that they have had the literal worst classes of their lives within the past 3-5 years.

[Outlaw]

I can't imagine someone being any dumber than some of the people I went to school with. I'm talking, "I didn't know fire would burn me!" level stupid.

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[Byrthnoth]

I'm a bit split. The rise of AI means people's already weak critical thinking skills will become even less developed as they outsource most of it to AI and slide towards a Wall-e-like existence. However, we just watched a plurality of voters unleash face eating leopards. If we had replaced their votes with an AI analysis of who should be president, we would have been a lot better off.

We need to educate people better/differently, but I think that has been true for decades and isn't caused by AI.

[Gredival]

I'm a bit split. The rise of AI means people's already weak critical thinking skulls will become even less developed as they most of it to AI and slide towards a Wall-e-like existence. However, we just watched a plurality of voters unleash face eating leopards. If we had replaced their votes with an AI analysis of who should be president, we would have been a lot better off.

We need to educate people better/differently, but I think that has been true for decades and isn't caused by AI.

People are dumb, and representative democracy worked by having us select from the best of us. You need to educate people insofar as they can make a decision about who is equipped to make decisions. But that has come crumbling down with populism and elite/establishment resentment.

I can't imagine someone being any dumber than some of the people I went to school with. I'm talking, "I didn't know fire would burn me!" level stupid.

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The kids in honors level are about that level of dumb now, and the kids in babysitting level are actively burning themselves for the third time in a row.

There's a reason a lot of male gen Z voters gravitate towards Trump.

[kuronosan]

I actually worry about the same in medical education. Some schools are reporting issues with students using AI a bit too much to write personal statements, craft treatment plans, etc., and while it has its utilities to those who already have the knowledge and experience not understanding the in between is a huge problem. Hence the calculator example.

People want shortcuts but they don't want to understand how and why the shortcuts save time.

[Meresgi]

I'm a bit split. The rise of AI means people's already weak critical thinking skills will become even less developed as they outsource most of it to AI and slide towards a Wall-e-like existence. However, we just watched a plurality of voters unleash face eating leopards. If we had replaced their votes with an AI analysis of who should be president, we would have been a lot better off.

We need to educate people better/differently, but I think that has been true for decades and isn't caused by AI.

Friend had these graphs submitted in a 4yr college course