alt Hacker NewsEverything we've learned in the last 10 years is telling us that computers do not help human education in the slightest. We remember better when we write with pen and paper. We learn better with whiteboards and paper books. The simple answer: Remove most computing from education entirely. Blue composition books, pencils, whiteboards is what trains humans. Calculators are helpful perhaps but it is quite possible that slide rules are better. We need humans that can critically think from first principles to counter the recycled information generated by AI.
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Nah, I wrote physics programs on my computer at home in high school and it absolutely helped with my schooling. Yeah, maybe iPad apps aren't the best things in schools but you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Computers bad is simply not true.
I think this overlooks the potency and scarcity of 1:1 time with the teacher. If you've only got maybe a few minutes of that in an average schoolday there's a huge difference between whether or not you've talked it through with an AI before trying the question out on the teacher.
They're wrong sometimes, but usually in verifiable ways. And they don't seem to know the difference between medicine and bioterrorism, so often they refuse. But these limitations are worth tolerating when the alternative is that our specialists in topic X are bogged down by questions about topic Y to the point where X isn't getting taught.
I learned calculus thanks to wolfram alpha step by step solving feature
> humans that can critically think from first principles
This has never been achieved by, nor is it the point of, education for the masses.
I'm not going to disagree with step by step videos ... those are a HUGE help. I'm really talking about solving problems using pen and paper, whether math or writing, is how my problem-solving patterns actually changed.
I don't think computers automatically make us more educated, but if you want to make a point don't use reductive exaggerations. > We need humans that can critically think from first principles to counter the recycled information generated by AI.
I agree with this.
I would start saying that many people need presence in a real environment with people to learn. We don't use all our senses in a remote environment.
I disagree with that statement. There is nothing inherently wrong with using computer to learn and if your personal goal is to learn it in lot of cases makes it much easier, whether to search for or visualise a piece of knowledge you're' learning.
The problem is frankly computer and now computer with LLM makes it easy to cheat.
The kid doesn't want to learn, the kid wants good grades so parent is happy with them, and the young adult wants to get the paper coz they were told that is required for good life. It's misalignment of incentives.
> computers do not help human education in the slightest
I had no access to anyone who could teach me calculus as a kid except Khan Academy, so I think this is a gross exaggeration. But I agree in the end, that all my "real" learning did come from pen-and-paper practice, not watching videos.