#52: The impact of AI in education
And why teachers are wrong about it
Hey friends,
Welcome to the 52nd edition of the “Level Up Ladder” newsletter.
I welcome the 50+ subscribers that have joined in the past couple of weeks, and I hope you like it.
As always, please reply directly to this email and tell me what you think about it. I read and reply to all emails.
1/ Some updates from my side
Last weekend I finished the economics course, and I must admit it is a subject far more complex than I thought. I have a group project and an individual project that I need to submit in the following weeks, so this will keep me busy.
Fortunately, we have a study break for Easter and also a short vacation from work so I hope to have time to finish them.
I have some busy months ahead of me and I can't wait for July, when I can relax a bit.
I will run a half-marathon on Sunday
It's the end of the fiscal year at work so it's pretty busy
More projects and classes in the MBA
I go to Hyrox on June 1st
2 weeks in Maastricht for the MBA at the end of June
Anyway, Easter is right around the corner, the weather is lovely, and I can't complain, life's good.
Oh, one of the best things about this MBA is that we end most of our Saturday classes with wine and cheese
.
2/ The Impact of AI in Education
I wanted to write about this because I see so many people and institutions who are serious about it. But in the wrong way.
In academia, at least in the institution where I'm studying, people put a big emphasis on not using AI in our papers. They have tools that will detect it, we will fail, we have to be careful, blah blah blah.
On the other hand, in business, few people still believe it can make a change.
I firmly believe AI is here to stay and we need to incorporate it in our lives.
For example, in schools, it's a source of knowledge that we should not dismiss.
Most of my education was in post-communist Romania. And it was based only on close-book exams and memorizing stuff. No projects, no group assignments—nothing like this.
We were laughing when we saw on TV interviews with Americans who didn't know where Romania was or the name of Henry VIII's second wife.
"They're so stupid, hahaha."
In my twenties, when I first met people from the States, I realized the joke was on us.
We knew a lot of stuff, yet we didn't know how to communicate, how to collaborate, or how to solve real-life problems.
We were brought up in a system that taught us a lot of theoretical stuff that we would never use. Because no one bothered telling us what they were useful for and how to apply them to the real world.
A teacher at my university once told us:
"An engineer doesn't have to know, he needs to know where to look for the information."
The internet changed the way we live and learn.
You could find anything on Wikipedia.
If you didn't understand something about the 100-year war, you could go look it up.
Now, with ChatGPT, it's even simpler.
I have a shortcut on my phone, and I talk to it like I would with a personal assistant who knows the answers to all the questions in the world.
So, why are teachers so afraid of its impact?
Doesn't academia have the means to assess someone's knowledge in the age of AI?
Telling us not to use AI in our projects is like teachers telling us not to use Google in the 2000s.
Or to skip the library in the age before the internet.
It's not right.
We need to find ways to assess the understanding of a new topic in this new light.
Maybe it's through debates on certain subjects. Or through argumentation of ideas.
Why aren't we preparing students for real life?
If you're a Deloitte or McKinsey consultant and you need to implement a Digital Transformation project for a client, you won't do it on the spot. You will analyze the data, brainstorm, go through past projects, and search for new ways online.
You will use AI, and nobody cares.
Because in real life, no one cares how you come to a conclusion.
They care about how good you are at solving problems and how that impacts them.
So, instead of being afraid of AI and how it impacts the lives of teenagers, maybe we should care about other things that impact the lives of students.
Like social media.
3/ Recommendations
This (long) fascinating article talks about the impact of social media on teenage mental health.
Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix
This anime or cartoon (I don't really know the difference) has the best storyline I've seen in a TV series in a long time.
This rock band
I had a former colleague who was a big fan of Ghost and had T-shirts with the band 8 years ago, but I never listened to it. It’s a great theatrical, heavy metal band.
Thank you for reading, and let me know if you liked something in particular in this newsletter.
I hope you have a great weekend, friends!
Leo
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P.S. 2: If you want to take your productivity to the next level, check out my extensive Productivity course that can accelerate your career.