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

[Pineapplespongebob]

They’re in secondary school and their school isn’t the best. Every day they get homework and do it on ChatGPT. They and the rest of their class have taken to using gpt in class on their laptops wherever they can. I am wondering what’s the point of education system as it stands. It’s a shame we can’t look to improve the whole situation, like, learning about a volcano is all well and good but it’s easy enough to look it up now. And if I’m stuck personally on a subject I will too.

eventually AI will get good enough to do things we mock it for now. Shouldn’t we be hearing more about education changing to suit dc in the future? Why can’t we take a step back from academics and give more life skills now. Even things like learning how to cook cheaper healthy meals would probably suit more people in my dc school than the ins and outs of a volcano and possibly reduce the strain on the nhs when a large majority of my dc class seem to survive on fast food rn.

It's only a matter of time. Examiner pay is awful.

Me too! I got two awesome human responses this week that were totally individual to those students. So of course those were the ones I showed as models.

None of them can do that anyway. It should be taught in ICT but instead they're taught how code.

MFL wasn't a new subject introduced to replace Latin. They were both taught all along and then Latin was largely dropped.

Seriously though, OP, can you really not see any downsides to replacing academic subjects with sewing and cooking? Which ones would you replace? Why do you actually think sewing your own clothes would be useful and practical for most people? It's extremely time-consuming and almost certainly more expensive than buying them.

That is a lot of what is taught. Don't assume teachers and education establishments are oblivious to AI, ask any high school pupil they know it needs fact checking, and what reliable sources of information are and what "fake news" is.
Don't forget 50+ years ago we had no calculators, 40+ years ago no computers, the way we work, live our everyday lifes including education adapts and evolves. We will embrace the positives and reject and regulate the negatives as with computers. Life without computers we would be back to being paid cash in a little envelope, but the downside now is scamming, fraud, identity theft etc.

They do at my school. Teaching them.in isolation in IT isn't the answer. A couple of sessions with their tutors for the basics of Teams and One Drive then every subject teacher uses it, sets assignments and leaves 5 minutes at the end of class to demonstrate how to attach work. By half term in y7 they can all do it.

Why not sewing? Its considered important enough in my country (along with other fabric skills like knitting and crochet) to be taught every single year in school until 8th grade (14/15 year olds) when it becomes an elective. And I certainly appreciated it when my son needed his Scout badges sewed on and his dad just got the sewing kit out and did it. Its not just sewing itself, but learning the mindset that clothes can be fixed or made yourself instead of constantly being replaced.

Are there enough adults around who make clothes to a certain standard that would also be able to teach a bunch of disinterested teenagers to do it to any level of competence?

I love crafts and think they are wonderful and valuable in many ways, not least as a way to get out of our heads and do something practical and tactile and to connect with natural products and resources. I knit, crochet and spin, and run a knitting and crochet club at my school. On one level I absolutely love the idea of kids spending time doing these things (hence the club!), but I think their benefits would be in terms of well-being rather than practical, as most people have neither the inclination nor the time to make clothes rather than buy them.

Fwiw although I love woolly crafts, I hate sewing and am not good at it! I still managed to sew on badges/name tapes though.

I make my own curtains (massive money-saver) and do repairs, but these days I really don't find clothes-making to be cost-effective. Maybe it will be again in the future, who knows?

Maybe, but it would take a lot of time. I teach crochet to bright, enthusiastic girls who have chosen to come to my club, and I have 30 years' experience of being a teacher. Even then, progress in one session a week is (naturally) slow and many don't stick at it. What would need to be dropped from the current curriculum to make space for this? People often say schools should be teaching X, Y or Z skill, but whenever you ask them what should be ditched to make space for it, they go very quiet.

Unfortunately schools are expected to educate and replicate skills that should be taught at home.

You only have to look at younger years at primary that introduce teeth brushing, potty training and learning to talk. A complete change in attitude towards being a parent is needed with more accountability on parents not schools.

Exactly. The state of the modern world no doubt makes lots of us feel a nostalgia for a life of cosy but practical self-sufficiency, a contrast to online life, but making your own clothes requires more skill, time and money than people generally have, even if they did learn it at school.

Exactly

We have two boys and both of them went to sewing club in primary school. We will forever hang those decorations on tree/around house at Christmas.

But ours life life, learning, take advantage of every opportunity that school, college have to offer. Some children and their parents are completely disinterested, can’t do won’t try.

It’s depressing but there are some dads out there who if they saw their son sewing would call them pansies or similar, how can schools override this?

Well I think dropping Latin was a travesty and I’m learning it now as an adult. It teaches us so much about language, spelling and grammar, and opens up a world of the Classics that have some important historic and philosophical teachings.

If you think it’s so important, why didn’t your son sew his own badge on? What skill did he learn by passing it to his dad to solve?

The life skills you talk about have been developed over years based on learning about our world. For example, cooking uses understanding of maths and Chemistry. Carpentry depends and has evolved based on our understanding of art, science and maths. Learning and curiosity about the world benefits everything we do. Chatgpt is only as good as the prompts you give it

But the modern world gives positive things
You can find information and move money into ISAs/shares at home, anyone want to go back to visiting a real bank during bank opening hours, even if they did open all the branches.

Who wants to find a working cashpoint before shopping?

Foes anyone not get anything delivered? Whilst people complain about the modern world if they need a box of nails or some velvet leggings or whatever I bet they order online instead of actually going to a shop.

Who wants to go back to buying newspapers and being part of mailing lists to know about shows or exhibitions when you can order online and get tickets into your email.

People complain about modern life on an online message board (ironic) but they do, they absolutely do cherry pick the bits of modern life that suits them.

Instead of banks with cashiers there are now thousands of programmers making sure, trying to and largely succeeding, in keeping your money safe online. The jobs are still there they have just changed, if there was no demand for online finances the banks wouldn’t offer it.

And to do secure coding you need to know stuff.
Maths mainly, problem solving, logical thinking. The jobs now and in the future don’t care if you can sew a button on, well few do. I mend H’s clothes if need be because he is part of a team ensuring online security, I see his work screen, pages and pages of, to me, random characters, but I also have confidence when I am transferring whatever the teens want to whoever needs paying that the right amount of money from me to them will be sent securely.

Coding is a vital skill, or will be, for many in the future job market. AI is not going to take over these jobs, there needs to be accountability. But that’s a different discussion.

More parents and children should stop complaining and blaming schools about what and how pupils learn or are being taught and embrace what is there. Everyday day’s a school day baby - is regularly said in this house.

Our eldest is through GCSEs - they were intense but nothing that was out of reach, perhaps because we didn’t complain or allow him to navel gaze “what is the point of learning poetry” - “to give you a groundwork in future to enjoy all forms of creative writing and performance if you so wish”

I can teach him how to chop an onion, cook pasta and swirl in some pesto. His English teacher got him through Emily Dickinson poems well done MrsB! And we had great fun revising them even if it was a battle from time to time.

He could work out how to sew a button on, he would put it in the wrong place first time, then learn to position correctly in future. But he would get there.

Schools do try to give an updated base from which to spring from, parents need to support them more. When you get letters sent reminding parents that hurling abuse at the reception staff you honestly think why don’t more teachers think what’s the fucking point and walk out.

If you disagree with school this much home school your precious offspring you can clearly do it better.

Yes I know - that's why I'm saying that replacing school subjects with sewing is not a good idea, however lovely, practical and wholesome it sounds, and why I challenged people who suggest these things to back it up by naming academic subjects they think we can afford to ditch!

Surely my school can't be the only one with textiles on a rotation in KS3 and art - textiles as GCSE and A-level option?! I mean, it might not be called "sewing" but there is a room of sewing machines.

Yes I got that was trying to back up that point not oppose it

they want to get rid of volcanoes - who needs to learn about amazing holes direct to the earth’s mantle when you could be hemming a pair of £7 trousers!

Nope ours does textiles/cooking/DT on a term rotation until you pick GCSE options, with extra curricular clubs in all three all year round, should the student have an interest or passion.

I’ve got no problem in our children’s standard state comprehensive secondary
They have amazing teachers who go above and beyond, our one still in secondary has taken up the opportunities offered with gusto, in football, basketball, debate, drama, school council, he was some sort of representative and got dragged to local community meetings and conferences, music creation with local theatre, ended up singing on stage at some point. This is just what he chooses to do. He would do much more but he can’t be in two places at the same time, he did try!
And he does stuff out of school. He’s exhausting he really is but growing into a confident, content, smart, motivated, calm, loving young man. And this is partly, largely because of school.

clubs he doesn’t choose include orchestra, choir, mend and repair, art, badminton, weights, they offer extra support sessions for every subject, creative writing, coding, there’s more.

they have specialist lectures ad hoc at lunchtime including personal finances, career paths, from the police etc

these are sessions teachers offer outside lesson hours, they put in much more effort than done parents and still parents complain

I would be such a dick to storm in demanding they are not providing enough what do I say “why aren’t you teaching my son to open a bank account hey that’s the stuff he needs to learn”

let’s dull their sparks and make them learn adult stuff before they need to because it’s so much fun isn’t it.

no my opinion keep school for volcanoes, poetry, working out areas of circles, drawing, fun exercise, mates at lunchtime, exercise bike challenges (yes really that was fun), dissecting hearts (animal obviously), setting fire to magnesium. The boring adult stuff will happen. Does it need to be before 16?

And if your phone is dead or the internet is down, you're able to work out things on a scrap of paper or in your head whilst standing at a supermarket shelf thinking 'That special offer is more expensive than the non promoted brand. Stuff that, scamming gits'. Because you were taught how to do it yourself.