In 1871, Ontario first instituted free and compulsory public schooling. A year later, B.C. established non-sectarian schools. For more than 150 years, reading, writing and arithmetic has been a cornerstone of our society. Educating our children is a responsibility we assume, for the betterment of our future.
I’ve spoken with so many teenagers that complain about high school, saying that they will never use what they learn in the ‘real world.’ I disagree. While they may not remember the specifics of what they are taught, it’s the process of learning that matters. High school is where you learn how to learn, after school is where you learn how to do stuff.
That’s why I’m a bit apprehensive about ChatGPT.
ChaptGPT is a new artificial intelligence system that can create good content simply by asking it to. It can do almost anything – write articles or papers, create or fix computer code. I’ve seen an example where someone created a talking character that read a script. Pretty amazing.
As an educator, I have tools to help me identify when someone has used ChatGPT (that’s for any of my students that might read this). It’s a big topic in our world, both positive and negative.
My concern is that people will come to rely on it instead of thinking or solving their own problems. It will no doubt replace some jobs, but a reliance on a machine to replace critical thought and problem solving is not a good thing.
For years studies have shown that mapping apps can make you brain ‘lazy and dumb’. Granted, it does come in handy when you want to see if the tunnel is backed up, but relying on it too much isn’t a good thing. The brain is a like a muscle – if you don’t use it, it loses strength.
I enjoy solving problems. I like working on cars, renovating at the family cabin, fixing small engines and doing creative work for clients. I like the challenge of coming up with an article every three weeks for this newspaper – hopefully you like reading it.
Sure, I could let someone else do these things, and now I can let the computer do even more. But when I’m older, I still want to figure things out for myself. I don’t want to be the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz, looking for a brain.
But I guess all is not lost. Google’s version of this is called Bard. Switch a couple letters and I can feel smart again.
BRAD Sherwin, MBA is a long-time resident of South Delta, and has over 30 years’ experience in marketing, public relations and business strategy. He teaches post-secondary marketing, coaches hockey goalies and is past president of Deltassist
