Education Secretary Linda McMahon: "AI is definitely a tool used correctly. I've seen it in action. I have visited the Alpha School in Austin, Texas, where they use AI for the first two hours every single morning. The students have their headsets on, they are was movies; and watching their… pic.twitter.com/5V8mGqCOAH
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 29, 2026
Education Secretary Linda McMahon: "AI is definitely a tool used correctly. I've seen it in action. I have visited the Alpha School in Austin, Texas, where they use AI for the first two hours every single morning. The students have their headsets on, they are watching their computers ... it is incredibly effective"...it was movies; and film strips; even speed reading machines (anybody remember the ‘60’s push for “speed reading”?). Lots of “education technology.” I learned more about the basics of atomic physics from the public library (I still remember some of the books I read in 5th grade) than I did from the Disney movie (I think it was “Our Friend the Atom.” Whatever the title, it was bald propaganda).
It’s all bullshit. Learning from looking at a screen is equivalent to watching a YouTube video about riding a bicycle; without ever getting on a bicycle. Or learning to play piano, by watching someone play the piano. If you don’t do, you don’t learn. Period.
I'm convinced you can use the computer or educational purposes, if those involve reading books on it. Movies, other than a few manual skills and other such physical things better shown on a Youtube than trying to read a description in a book, not much. "AI" I always skip over the "AI" summary and the first few things that come up on Google because I've learned from long experience with such things that the top of the search is most likely what "AI" is cribbing and it's most likely wrong, at least if the topic is in any way a matter of controversy.
ReplyDeleteYou'd have to be as stupid as Linda McMahon to think otherwise. Her idea of education is like what they provided for the deltas and lower in Brave New World, though I think she's a gamma at best. Trump, too.
Oh, and typing. Using a computer to type instead of a typewriter is another good use of a computer for educational purposes. If I'd had word processing I might have gone for a PhD.
The same conservatives who were screaming that the schools needed to open during the pandemic so the students could go in person instead of staring at a screen, are suddenly fine with kids in front of a computer all day. Okay. I had hoped that the massive lesson of on-line-learning for especially younger children during the pandemic, would finally kill off the fantasy that computers would replace teachers.
ReplyDeleteI only taught for three years, but the most important lesson from my teaching training was that you were teaching two lessons. The first was the one in the lesson plan, the content we focus on for courses. The other was the meta lesson (actually a bundle of lessons) such as how to socialize, fairness, kindness and so much more. As a high school science teacher, unless my students went into STEM, they were unlikely to remember much of the content even five years later. Most or all would be completely forgotten by 10 years. But the meta lessons would persist, and even grow in importance. A computer, even at its most useful, only teach content. It teaches no meta lessons. My daughters interacted with home schooled students in college. Their collective view is that almost all of them were pretty weird, they missed all kinds of social cues and often struggled to socialize. It turns out, those meta lessons (and home schooled kids are at least getting some meta-lessons) matter. I can't say I am surprised that socially stunted billionaire tech bros pushing AI totally discount all those other lessons that are critical to form a decent populace. Computers also completely fail to teach hands on lab experiments (and the meta-lessons of working with lab partners), team work in gym class, art class with real materials, playing an instrument, performing in an school band or chorus, and so on.
The act of reading is the thing. It’s active.The act of watching is not an act. It’s passive.
DeleteHere endeth the lesson. 😸