Kids Will Future Proof Themselves (if we let them)
Banning Smartphones, Social Media and AI Like ChatGPT is Stupid
In the 2010s coding was introduced into many schools in a push to future proof kids for the jobs of tomorrow. In the early 2000s those same schools were blocking MySpace.com, stopping kids using HTML to customise their profiles and getting familiar with the future of media: social media.
Today smartphones - the centre of the global economic and cultural universe - are commonly banned by schools, as are apps like TikTok and Snapchat. In the first days of 2023 NYC Education Department banned ChatGPT. Meanwhile, schools try to figure out how to get kids more interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
If adults allow children to learn and embrace new technologies without interference, kids will be better equipped to handle the rapidly changing job market of the future. Children are generally more open to learning and adapting to new technologies than adults, and as a result, they may be more successful in navigating the constantly evolving job market.
Ultimately, the key to helping kids future proof themselves is to provide them with the resources and support they need to learn and grow. By fostering a culture of learning and innovation, and by allowing kids to take an active role in their own learning, adults can help kids to prepare for the future job market and to succeed in their careers.
The future of writing - for example - will be human, machine symbiosis. Writers will provide ideas, then act as editors of output, while contributing their own sentences and paragraphs.
Just like this article.
Different from other trends, this one is interesting because text generation AI has the potential to change school itself, like for example getting rid of homework but in a good way, because teaching can be done in a better more efficient way.
A glimpse into that is the latest episode of the podcast Hard Fork, where a teacher openly defends the use of ChatGPT and even tells how teachers already know that children try to cheat, no shocker here after all CliffsNotes is out there for years now.
It's really nice to listen to that episode and see how that teachers is looking forward to use tools like that and even proposes using AI assistants during the class so people can come up with ideas and improve their thinking and criticizing skills.