This story is especially stinging to writers, who hate seeing the craft we've spent our lives honing categorized as something between a necessary evil and idiot work that a machine could do. But most of these students will never be writers, or thinkers, or learners, and they don't want to be. - ThreadSky

markharris.bsky.social • 22 days ago

This story is especially stinging to writers, who hate seeing the craft we've spent our lives honing categorized as something between a necessary evil and idiot work that a machine could do. But most of these students will never be writers, or thinkers, or learners, and they don't want to be.

Reposted from Mark Harris

I am honestly in awe of people who teach at colleges and universities. I would not have the stomach, the heart, the patience, or the temper to face what is described here. nymag.com/intelligence...

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markharris.bsky.social•22 days ago

In college, I slept through courses, daydreamed, skipped lectures, tore through books at the last minute so I could write a passable essay, and often stupidly viewed my education as something that was interfering with my life. Squandering a chance to learn is not new. I'm glad AI wasn't around then.

advanced-ict.info•19 days ago

That's how it was when higher education was free! My daughter and nephew are both at university and they're both quite anti-AI - they're of the view that they'd be wasting their money if they didn't do the work themselves. For me, AI is like social media - I wouldn't use it for anything serious.

jackviertel.bsky.social•22 days ago

You and both. And my friend Chris Durang. Why did we think hiding under the bed was better than learning something new?

markharris.bsky.social•22 days ago

I'm not exaggerating when I say I have regretted my behavior every year since. A lot of the work I do for my books is really my attempt to send myself back to school.

jackviertel.bsky.social•22 days ago

Me too. Not that I've written a lot of books (2.) But oy what I missed.

dwgregory.bsky.social•22 days ago

Okay, this is not meant to be snarky -- but who paid for your education? I had to finance most of it myself and that meant 20 hours a week work-study. I never went to parties or keggers, I didn't have time. And since I was on scholarship I absolutely had to keep an A average.

troydillon.bsky.social•22 days ago

Oh man can I relate to that. I cringe when I look back at my college days. Such a waste.

rmbodenheimer.bsky.social•22 days ago

at least back then we had to pull all-nighters to get our papers done. No more.

richkurt.bsky.social•22 days ago

It me!

I'm also a writer, so I feel ya on all this.

diz-nic.bsky.social•22 days ago

Kids that age (and especially now with short attention spans honed by electronics) are often too immature to benefit from higher ed. Perhaps they need a break after 12 years and should be required to work for a few years. Could change perspective and motivation.

diz-nic.bsky.social•22 days ago

But AI is throwing a monkey wrench into the mix.

claudiatranslates.bsky.social•22 days ago

True. I'm also pretty concerned about future doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, etc., cheating their way through college. Not great if a surgeon can't save your life, lawyers lose your case because they don't know their stuff, and bridges or houses just crumble all of a sudden. 🥴

andycorren.bsky.social•22 days ago

A1 steak sauce will never be able to write Mrs. Dalloway or Veep or Sinners. Periodtttt. The writers who read practice and work at writing will write the stories that matter, and last.

brennick.bsky.social•22 days ago

They'll be politicians.

kle138.bsky.social•22 days ago

Also don’t underestimate the role that fear plays in this: Fear of getting a bad grade, of making a mistake, of being real. We’ve made the stakes of school/college so high and the goals are clear. It’s not learning, it’s checking the boxes and getting a good grade. It’s not all on the students, imo.

carlzand.bsky.social•22 days ago

Sad for every artist. AI is not the way. Long live the artist.

owen-symes.bsky.social•22 days ago

I've seen some alarm about LLMs causing mass illiteracy, which I think is overblown since literacy is required to use the tech; but it certainly has the potential to blunt the ability to think critically, write effectively, or read with genuine curiosity

worldcitizen1994.bsky.social•22 days ago

No, they want to be "influencers," and most of them will probably never be successful at that, either. This what end-stage capitalism has done.

quinnzwirble.bsky.social•22 days ago

What pains me is that if they want help writing there’s already a ton of resources available that aren’t the shitty plagiarism machine! Colleges have writing centers for help! Talk to friends!

hellosarah.bsky.social•22 days ago

I consider it a privilege that my job is supporting older foster youth through college; but on tough days the universe is punishing me for being an unrepentant slacker all thru undergrad.

rkobell.bsky.social•22 days ago

This was my attitude when I taught journalism at university. I couldn't exactly police AI, so I told them if they used it, they were only cheating themselves. You have to learn how to write. No one would ever care what grade they got. Whether or not they could write was much more important.

bubsc.bsky.social•22 days ago

Not sure why, but this reminds me of dodgeball. I was often the smallest in gym. But dodgeball was fun because I once put the ball in the basket and jail broke my entire team.

I was also a bad student, and struggling to and eventually getting A's on college essays gave me confidence in life.

bobcalhoun.bsky.social•22 days ago

I work for a major public university system that just cut some kind of deal with Microsoft for their AI. I've been in two large zoom meetings about using this, and they all end with existential dread over ethics and environmental impact.

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