From NPR’s Consider This: “To AI or not to AI? Do college students appreciate the question?” I like this, from Will Teague, a professor of history at Angelo State University interviewed for this story:
“What I told one student was that just because I hand you a hammer doesn’t mean you know how to build a house. You have to learn how to do the thing first before you use tools to make the thing easier.”See also Ted Chiang’s observation:
Using ChatGPT to complete assignments is like bringing a forklift into the weight room; you will never improve your cognitive fitness that way.
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I understand what professor Teague is getting at, but maybe to extend the analogy a bit to something I think is also important. I learned to use a hammer from my father. I was taught there are different types for different tasks, how to hold them, how to use them, and that there are different nails for different jobs. I guess it was one-on-one mentoring in the fundamentals, although I didn’t see it that way at the time. Today it seems we’re giving students - well, anybody really - a nail gun, a pat on the back, and saying have at it. No mentoring, no teaching, no basics, no nothing.
I still remember the incredible naiveté with which students would consider online sources. And it's worse when those who should know better (as on a recent Chronicle of Higher Ed podcast) speak of AI as having "the answer" to a question.
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