Posted on 08/15/2026 8:23:42 AM PDT by goodnesswins
A podcast discussing AI in education from Hillsdale leader in K-12 education
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20 minute podcast...AI discussion midway thru
From a previous thread on this, it looks like oral exams and blue books will be making a big comeback.
Maybe...Education is going to need to make major changes, that is for sure.
In theory, AI can help to accelerate student learning. In practice, however, all too often they use it as a shortcut to get the right answers — without understanding how those answers were arrived at.
Retired public school teacher, here.
In my opinion, the last thing today’s kids need in school is more ‘screen time’. Books, papers, pens & pencils, chalk and a black board and a curriculum based on reality delivered a better education to me in the 50s and 60s than what smart boards, tablets, and a no-fail under any circumstances are giving kids now.
Offloading thinking is more than a danger.
https://claude.ai/share/7d0850f3-a89b-4066-adec-5e3301ebccac
I know. Can we do both? We need to figure it out. I was/am a reader...can we get kids back to books?
Would have been better if they entire internet crash in 2000
“...can we get kids back to books?”
Many ‘lessons’ (by the younger teachers) involved giving assignments, quizzes, etc on Chromebooks. The lessons were never more than 5-10 minutes long. Kids would be given an open book quiz on a two-page reading assignment and expressed bewilderment at my being able to find the answers in seconds that completely eluded them. If one word differed in the quiz from the language of the text, they had no idea that the right answer was in front of them. It is very sad.
The kids I subbed for are in high school now and many are functionally illiterate. And many cannot even add without resorting to a calculator.
Ah. Memories of the 3-minute math quizzes and the smell of ditto paper ink.
Nothing like Mrs. Davis now. Loved Mrs. Davis. She was a task master.
I concur. Decades ago in high school, my 'screen time' consisted of going to the blackboard with chalk, and proving formulas for calculus studies in front of the math class. We had manual slide rules, no calculators or computers. We learned without AI.
Yes.
I can also see value in isolated oral exam rooms (I remember having some French lessons in isolated booths with headphones). Put the kid, alone, in a booth, ask them questions (short answer and long form) and have them respond. The whole class do do this simultaneously in separate isolation chambers. No time wasted. AI can create a transcription of their answers, and humans can grade the response later. The student is on their own, and the process is pretty efficient, not requiring huge amounts of effort on the part of the teacher.
Knowing facts is always good. But I would like to see some emphasis (in all subjects) in just being able to organize your thoughts, and to speak coherently on a topic. Start them young — “What did you do this weekend?” Then grade them on how their response was poor, short, indistinct, hard to follow, nonsensical. Eventually create students who can speak intelligently on simple everyday topics. Then start asking them “Why did the Roman Empire fall?” or “Describe David Copperfield’s relationship with Mr. Micawber.”
“We had manual slide rules”
I think that teaching how to use a slide rule would be an excellent exercise in this day and age!!!
There are days I agree with you. And, love your tagline.
But do they know how the answer was calculated? Do they know more than the basics of math? When I was a kid, my mom had an abacus (device with lots of beads in columns). She would challenge me to solve math problems, she on the abacus, and me with paper and pencil. She beat me every time. Even when calculators came along in the early 1970's, she still was faster. Her challenges helped me to get good at math, to the point I graduated with the top math awards in my high school.
I doubt it matters either way.
Either the kids are going to be drenched in leftism by left wing teachers from the unions or the kids are going to be drenched in leftism by left wing algorithms coming from an AI coded by leftists.
Either way the responsible people have wholly abdicated their responsibility to keep leftists out of the schools. We pay a heavy price for that abdication.
But do they know how the answer was calculated? Do they know more than the basics of math?
To make things worse, the way they are taught to add, subtract, multiply and divide makes even simple calculations a multistep process that involves drawing little boxes.
Here’s a kid explain to his mom the right way to add two-digit numbers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGN-UwESeZw
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