With apologies to none at all
By Vikas Mehta
I am a father of a daughter who pursued humanities and now wants to combine her passion for sports (she plays tennis, football and follows cricket) and communication with a career in sports journalism. Further, she has a flair for sketching and I thought that the three ingredients will make a deadly concoction which will help her to carve out a career which she will not only embrace but also be fruitful.
Note the use of the word “thought” and not “think”. Because in the last one year, I am struggling to understand how fast the world is changing. I have written in some of my past posts that I am associated with some postgraduate courses and also screen MBA candidates. This has helped me understand the changes in the world of education also from close quarters. I am now very worried, both as a father of an aspiring journalist and as an educator for the skills of today’s generation.
And the one factor that has caused this upheaval is artificial intelligence, AI.
I think the early adapters of AI, besides the technologist and innovators have been students. Till now, Google was the equivalent of Goddess Saraswati for them, a huge store of knowledge which would dissipate information at the click of a key, Google became a teacher by default, specially during the pandemic. But, it was still all about information and knowledge. AI has taken it a step further. It now fulfills the role of a creator. Maybe its like God Brahma. But unfortunately, what it is doing is akin to Lord Shiva, the destroyer. And unfortunately, the students are not realising or understanding it.
You have to submit an assignment? Chill. Chat GPT will do it. Need data dissertation? Use Kyndryl. Write an application to a University or write an SOP, I don’t even need to tell you which AI tools to choose from. And now even if you have to crack a case study, study.corgi.com has a case study analysis generator.
So, why am I calling them as destroyers? Simply because it has made the students lazy and they don’t learn anything. Sure, they get good grades but have they added to their skills? Are they now industry ready?
You may say that the fault lies not with the students but with our examination or grading system. Grades count. So, the students main aim is to score marks. Game the system. Partially true. Because even if we remove exams or grades and just ask for submissions and give them just a genuine feedback, the students will still use the tools because they pander to the basic human habit of being lazy.
Education institutes have reacted typically. With penalties. Some first tried banning AI tools. Then came plagiarism or AI tool detector software. And then institutions allowed a certain percentage of the report or submission to be AI generated. Ok, so, you are submitting a report on how the Ukraine Russia war helped the Indian economy? Only 15% of your report should be AI generated. Who decides the 15%? The detecting software. So, what is the message we are giving the students?
We caught you cheating. Now you will be punished. Copying has been a bane of the Indian education system. Harsh punishments were devised. But did it stop students from cheating? No. So, with the advent of AI what we have done is that we have made AI the new cheating hero and the new grading villain. And we are inventing new software to stop them from cheating. We are just continuing the cat and mouse game.
What then is the solution? I have always believed that the best solution is to do away with any type of exam, grading or ranking. Teach. Then discuss. Then try some real life case as problems and try to crack it. And no, this is not a solution for MBA but also for schools. Let me explain with one example.
Today, many a times, UG students are unable to explain the meaning of their percentage score. If they have secured 80% marks, they cannot explain it except for telling the formula used to arrive at it. But they do not understand that 80% means that if the total marks were 100 then one scored 80. Or ask an intermediate science student to give an example of Newton’s third law, mostly they will give an example from their text book. If you throw a ball at the wall……. Ask them from one more and they struggle.
But what if they are explained these concepts with examples. They understand its importance and its usage. How to use a formula is not even required. Because your phones or calculators do that. So why waste time and effort in the calculations and based on that grade them or rank them? Instead teach and then discuss. Discuss real life instances. Discuss exceptions. Discuss deviations.
Use AI to break down concepts. Use AI to understand a complicated concept by asking the tool to simplify it or by giving an analogy. Use AI tools to discuss different scenarios. Make AI the hero. Not the villain. Make AI your ally in a positive way. Can’t beat it? Join it. That way the students will learn more and find studying interesting too.
Sure, in some areas you still may need some exams. But the exam system has anyways produced mass of underskilled students. Why not try something different? From the school stage itself.
So, is the use of AI what worries me about my daughter’s future? Yes and No. Definitely AI is a threat in taking away jobs and making human redundant. But no, because the way we have siloed even education into humanities, commerce and science means that humanities and commerce student shy away from AI.
“I hate maths or numbers” is the most common refrain from humanities students. The point is they don’t hate numbers. They hate the way it is taught. So, if one removes exams and just teach, discuss and relate it to real life, there will be less hate type of statements. There will be more acceptance of science and technology even amongst the humanities or commerce inclined.
And that should be the ultimate objective. Get everyone to learn some technology. Don’t ghettoise or silofy it. Doing this from the ground level in school will help. But there is a huge chunk of students today who need indoctrination in technology. The challenge is to bring this already mature, already set, already decided student to accept and try and learn bit of technology.
So, can we reset now? The NEP will help but it is work in progress and will not help current graduates and undergraduates. Education institutions need to start looking at and address this issue first.
Is there any education institute which will take up the challenge to make science, AI type of subject more acceptable to my daughter?