My dc goes to school and uses ChatGPT for everything and I’m thinking the education system needs a good shake up to prevent becoming almost useless, aibu

People thought like this when the internet became widespread. It will shake out.

Ds’ school teaches them how to use it and I’m really impressed by them.

They teach them how to spot things written by ai. They did assignments picking out the flaws and errors in an ai answer. But they encourage it as a learning support. There’s a lot of value in it when it’s used well.

It’s a very empowering approach because it’s not ignoring the technology but it’s showing them how relevant the human operator is.

In my country they do a couple of hours of handicrafts a week every school year until 8th grade (14/15 years old), at which point its an elective, half of that time is spent on fabric handicrafts so sewing, knitting, crochet etc. In the last year of primary my DD had to make a pair of trousers according to her own measurements. In 7th grade they do home ec and learn how to cook and clean up properly (including the "correct" way to do the dishes, and cleaning the oven, and setting the table, and folding napkins). I like that they learn this stuff but they have the time for it here, and the facilities in schools.

If I were you, I would tell your child to stop using chatGPT to do their homework! They aren't going to learn anything if they're using AI to do their work. I'm glad my teenager is very anti- AI, so she won't be using it and uses her brain instead.

Not my experience of my children in a faith school.
But at any rate, schools' dont have much power against parents. I have done supply in many (non faith) schools, and been really surprised how often parents complain/threaten schools about curriculum, forbidding their kids to do research into certain topics or even telling that they will be organising protests if a child is taught something they don't like. (Tbh the amount of people who are anti LGBTQ+ on mumsnet made me realise this should not be surprising, those people are probably on this very board too).
It's not abot schools being capable (sure, some teachers would be better at this than others) to teach critical thinking, but people just wanna go to work and go home without beign abused, drugged through the mud, spend hours replying to emails and feel scared that they may say something that a child or parent wil ltake out of context and will harrass them for this. No one wantsto put their job on the line knowing that odten schools wont support you and will cut you off to please parents.

Teach your children how to study the way you want them to?

I see no reason why you can't teach them knitting and seewing if it's important for you that they can produce clothes. I can and it's quite expensive compared to shop bought.

Why are you letting your daughter have chatGTP do her homework for her? There's parental responsibility around education too.

Perhaps it’s you who are biased OP.

Well there is a whole circulum review being done as we speak, and we are over due a change as the last one was 2016. Also technology changers quicker then the school systems can keep up.

But reliying on chatGTP for answers is daft, if often lies if it can't find the answer. You can't take it into and exam with you either so you still need to learn the subject. Your best teaching your children when technology can be useful, when you need to know actual facts and how to find out if it's actually accurate.

Tell him not to…

Why is it the schools / the education systems responsibility to stop your son using chatgpt for homework?

Teach him when it's appropriate and when it's not. And why.

Not if they want to pass an OFSTED they're not.

Why will they make their own clothes when it's cheaper to get them from Shein, Sainsbury's or Primark? The limitations of what school can practically teach are huge with classes of 30+. There is still a place for academic knowledge, general knowledge. Absolutely agree about critical thinking but they have to learn that in the context of actual knowledge..no way to think critically about Trump if you know nothing about how American politics work, NATO or world history. We have a massive problem with mistrust of experts..people who actually know stuff are drowned out by loudmouths on social media who think because they've seen an AI doctored photo they know stuff. Academically educated teachers can pass on things that less educated parents can't but most can teach life skills and if they can't, that is a social problem, not an academic one. How about bringing back youth clubs, widening access to and participation in scouts, cadets etc? Schools are academic, not a 360 life coach.

So you want to take education back to...what? 19th century?
As someone who can make my own clothes, I don't mind telling you that it's a fun hobby but isn't future-proofing in any way unless you predict a complete collapse in society. Making your own clothes is expensive. It's a luxury that very few could afford, I imagine.
Also, future-proofing would surely involve a competent use of emerging technology. So instead of teaching kids how to milk cows and weave baskets, I'd argue it's best to focus on skills such as critical thinking and fact checking. We seem to be lacking in these as a society.

I do agree with learning life skills and having more vocational opportunities available to school children.

As for ChatGPT I would seriously discourage your child not to use it. It weakens their cognitive development and there has been lots of research in this area.

At my children’s secondary school they have been told not to use AI to write their essays. It’s good for summarising papers but it’s not always accurate. We have been encouraged to use it at work but I don’t use it to write as I like to Sue use my brain. But it does take notes for meeting (transcription) so can be useful for some things.

They're at home when they do their homework. Why are you letting them do it that way? How do you expect the school to stop them when they're at home?

Interesting thought in the current political climate, when parents threaten schools with boycotts and protests for doing just that, and then politicians call schools 'woke' for teaching critical thinking.

It’s your job to teach life skills and ensure your child doesn’t use Chat GPT for homework. Your child’s school should be ensuring they don’t use it in the classroom.

Education should enrich young people’s lives with knowledge and understanding of the world we live in. It should equip young people to open the door to the future they choose: whether that be scientist, leader, world traveller, debater, raconteur, someone who is able to voice their thoughts and beliefs, and who understands the impacts of their actions on others, the environment etc. Or even someone who just loves books, or knows when words are being used to manipulate, or feels they belong in a theatre, or can go to another country with curiosity about its culture.

It’s a sad state of affairs if we don’t value learning, knowledge of our world, and critical thinking skills, treating life instead as a matter of survival.

My daughters homework is handwritten but she does use chst gpt for answers when shes stuck.

I agree op. There is no value in teaching knowledge, as anyone can find out anything at the touch of a button. SchoolS need to shift to teaching about critical evaluation of sources, how to spot unreliable news, assessing the value of information etc. That, social skills, and practical skills would be far more beneficial.

It's your job as a parent to teach your child life skills, and to teach them why cheating on their homework by using Chat GPT will probably come back to bite them later on.

The school system still involved exams without Internet access so everybody who uses chat gpt rather than study, will be screwed later.

Don’t your kids do Food Tech? My kids did a term of Food Tech from year 7 and one of them picked it as his GCSE option.