Regurgitation vs. Education

As the school year gets started back, I want to talk about something a younger cousin of mine was talking about over the summer break. He said that all the tests he had to do at the end of the semester was a headache and it was basically just a giant review of everything they had learned in the year. In fact, the last three weeks of school before summer was nothing but being sure him and his classmates could recite every note they had taken throughout said semester. Now he is only a sophomore in high school, but this was interesting to me. Having experienced college already and seeing what the job market offers, this method of “regurgitation” learning does not sit well. Now I am not saying it was any different when I went to school. We had the same sort of “Megatest” at the end of the semester, but the questions were more hand-picked from everything we learned. However, from what he was saying, it sounds like it has gotten worse. Now it sounds more like you have to repeat everything you have learned verbatim as you pace through hundreds of monotonous questions that only want to know if you remember what you learned. This does not actually help kids. Because in the adult world, whether it be further education or the job market, professors and employers don’t want people who know a lot; they want people who can take what they know and apply it to a bigger scenario. In other words, they do not want regurgitation, they want someone who is actually educated. Imagine an example where a file has been lost in a system. Someone from this modern regurgitation style of schooling may know everything about the file and how the system works. They may even know why the file went missing. However, could they actually find the file? Moreover, if the file cannot be found, would they know what to do to remedy the situation that needed the file in the first place? My bet is no. They have a lot of knowledge and no means to apply it. An educated someone with actual problem-solving skills, however, would be able to not only fix the problem, but probably recreate the file from other files in the system. I know this example is a bit far-fetched and maybe even impossible, but it does speak to a growing problem in the education system. Children are taught to remember lots of things and not taught how those things can be used. Furthermore, it is often a situation that to teach so many things, the youth are given basic examples of the knowledge that makes a larger question nearly unanswerable using that base example. More than that, they are often taught to remember something until the test and then you can forget it. A theme of “you probably will never use it anyway.” It is disgusting. The original learning was “reading, writing, and arithmetic,” and while I won’t get into how wrong calling these the “three R’s” is, I will end by saying that knowledge for knowledge’s sake is fine, but to learn things and then learn how to apply them to life examples makes a population of very smart people that also know a lot of things. A population who remembers lots of information but also have the skills to work and create in a world that values adaptability and thrives on extending a base set is extremely important. By all means, let’s read and enjoy Tom Sawyer, but let’s also understand why Tom is inherently a bad character so we don’t end up painting the fence white. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.

AI is a Tool...and It is Usable

The Master Control Program is going to destroy us along with help from VIKI and Skynet. Actually, I do not believe this in the slightest. Do I think there will eventually be a world filled with AI programs like this? Sure. However, we also have to consider that as far as we think we can take AI, we will also be able to take the safety protocols that far so that Sarah Conner will remain safe. So then why is everyone so worried about AI to start with? Well, I think it boils down to how people are interpreting what is happening with the technology. Many people think that it is some sort of entity that is going to act like it does in the movies. The truth is actually it is more akin to a new tool that is becoming more and more advanced and useful, which then leads people to want to use it in more ways. That is not necessarily a bad thing, even if some people do inherently have bad things in mind for it. At the end of the day though, one has to think about AI like an electric drill. Before its invention, the only way to drill holes was to wind a spoon shaped knife down into the thing you wanted a hole in. It took a long time and a lot of elbow grease. Then as drill bits got better and the electric motor became a staple, the electric drill was mainstream. Now, and I am reaching here, it can be used as a potential murder weapon. However, this does not make electric drills unusable or somehow a hateful creation that should never be looked at again. They are used to build many wonderful things and that is what we have to focus on while also trying to stop the dangerous ways they can be used. There is also another faction that feels AI is making things too easy for us. However, I can also give great examples of driving cars from place to place instead of walking, or talking on phones instead of sending letters, or even something as simple as using a calculator to add numbers. Imagine the first person to use one of those and how “lazy” he must have seemed. All in all, I feel AI will be a good thing for humanity, but its evolution will follow that of humanity. It will not be a perfect uphill line; it will be many trials and tribulations and many people working on it nonstop to bring it to a sort of “weird science” area where it will still have many flaws but will be the greater part of what helps the world keep moving forward. With any luck we will reach a point where we are using AI as a proper tool while not needing the help of Bruce Boxleitner, Will Smith, or Michael Biehn to keep us safe. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.

July is a Wasted Month

Summer is riding right along and with July most of the way done I realize that it has been quite a waste of a month. Think about it: you start the month with a big cookout, or cookouts, and a spending spree on a mess of fireworks. Then there is usually a birthday or two that have some form of outside event, because it is the sunny season, and then you pace through the rest of the month trying not to spend any money or time outside. By the time August arrives, you are more than celebrating National Air Conditioning day because it is tremendously hot and your suntan is now sunburn. I know there is nothing to be done about this. We cannot just skip an entire month, but can we at least acknowledge that it is not as enjoyable as everyone makes it out to be. Let’s be honest, warm weather is nice and it makes it easier to do things outside that we couldn’t during colder seasons, but opening up our pool is not fun, it is a new chore. Next year, I fully intend to plan out my July with Spongebob’s Indoors song in mind. I also fully intend to ignore as much “traditional” July fun as possible. With the exception of ice cream. Because ice cream is great no matter what month it is. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.