Why large language models threaten learning, teaching, and education

https://medium.com/bits-and-behavior/more-than-calculators-why-large-language-models-threaten-public-education-480dd5300939

by azhenley • 2 years ago

5 4 2 years ago

medium.com

jspittman• 2 years ago

Interesting take!

rhelz2• 2 years ago

I'm currently transitioning to math teaching after a 30-year career as a computer programmer. My take is two-fold:

1. The math curriculum is much better today than it was when I was a high-school student. My whole career would have been better if I had learned math as it is being taught now. However, it's a great preparation for the career I just finished. And I have to wonder: Will it also be a good preparation for the career my students have yet to start?

2. All my text books about teaching are completely out of date, because they were written before LLMs. Further, the basic research in teaching is all obsolete as well. Which means that all of the courses I'm taking are already out of date.

Education, especially public education, is a VERY conservative field. It hasn't even fully come to grips with the pocket calculator yet (don't even get me started on the calculator which they have standardized on--the horror that is the TI-84). And the article in this post seems to me to exemplify the default, knee-jerk reaction: ban the use of LLMs in school!!

Aside from being completely un-enforcible, I think that would leave students woefully unprepared. There is no boss on this planet who would rather you take 10x longer to finish a task because you did it yourself instead of using an LLM to "cheat." If kids are not taught how to effectively use LLMs with all their warts, they will be all but unemployable.

Yes, LLMs hallucinate. Yes, a crucial skill going forward is to be able to proofread the output of LLMs. So why don't we explicitly teach them this? They are not going to learn how to do it just by not using LLMs. Why? Because humans--children in particular--ALSO hallucinate!! What a great opportunity to teach them critical reasoning skills, if all of their homework requires them to practice doing it until its second nature.

Frankly, recent history has shown that this kind of critical thinking skill is what the world needs now. Imagine a world in which any time anybody read anything, they would reflexively, by habit, examine it critically, and be able to detect bullshit?

I think we should teach kids to be super-charged, ubermench-level productive with LLMs. Just like they became super-charged when learning typing, or super-charged when learning spreadsheets, or supercharged when google arrived, etc etc.

throwaway89201• 2 years ago

don't even get me started on the calculator which they have standardized on

What's a calculator? Is it a button-press-box or software? What should be the modern TI-84?

rhelz2• 2 years ago

Where do I begin......Put the TI-84 (which looks like it came out in 1984) next to an iPhone. That's all that needs to be said.

It is deliberately neutered in so many ways. No querty keyboard, so typing on it is a non-stop horror. It's so hard to program on, to discourage you from cheating by programming it that you can't program on it. Without wanting to stab your eyes out so you don't have to look at it.

A calculator in 2024 should be magical door. A portal to the platonic paradise which is math. It should be AMAZEBALLS. Learning how it works should be like exploring a magical kingdom.

And it should grow with you and go with you. It should be a tool you can use in your professional career--holding all of your knowledge, codified in programs, every bit of math you've worked so hard to master--made instantly available to tackle any problem you face.

But NooooOOOOooooo. We just can't have nice things.

Why large language models threaten learning, teaching, and education

Related Stories