Education

The Rise of the Machines and the Divided Staff Room

The promise poses some questions

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“Artificial Intelligence will revolutionize education.” “The kids are all using ChatGPT, so we should be too.” “We need to teach them how to use it ethically.” “It’s already here and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

I think it’s the last one that gets my goat the most. That it’s just another advance that we have to accept and embrace because somebody says so. That we should give up our own personal agency in determining the direction and nature of the society we want to live in.

That we have no choice.

School faculties are dividing into two camps, sometimes, but not necessarily along generational lines. I’ve seen it in the one I’m a member of and I find myself torn lately between being a professional educator who keeps up with developments in my field and my utter revulsion at the rise of the machines.

Can I hold both truths in my head at once and still function effectively? I guess we’ll see. Am I going to find a happy medium somewhere in between? I guess we’ll see that too.

Do I have a choice? I think I already know the answer.