Hopefully this isn't too much of a grandpa story...I was recounting this to some folks this week, when we were talking about the impact of AI on education. In general, now, folks I talk to in the educational space are starting to embrace and work with AI.
But waaay back when I was in college, the Mac classic had just come out. I had a classic books course, so I had to write papers - and I don’t really type very well. So, I made use of the pool of computers across the street from my dorm, at the nursing school. Really nice! No more backup/whiteout (yep, we used to have to actually use paint to erase mistakes).
But some of the teachers were cranky about this, for no good reason. There was talk of not accepting papers printed on printers instead of typed by hand. This was actually an issue for a while until laser printers came out and the quality was much better. I never had a paper actually rejected but I did have to argue a few times about it.
So what does this have to do with AI? Well - discomfort and resistance to change can come in subtle ways, and can look very silly in retrospect. From our position many years in the future, this seems absolutely bizarre and absurd. But at the time, it was a good excuse to reject something new and unfamiliar. It’s a great example of how easy it is to make up stories to project ourselves from change that feels uncomfortable.
Was there a bit of truth to it? Sure, the quality of early printers wasn’t good. I believe we had to settle on “no perforated paper” as a compromise. But there was no real cost to the teacher, and huge benefit to the student, and of course, computers pretty much took over everything shortly thereafter.
Just a good reminder of something we’ve discussed before - it’s always a good idea to challenge and inspect your reasons behind rejecting something new.
Yes, I am not sure if it is true or just a meme, but I remember that picture of an old article complaining about students using a paper instead of slate and chalk to do their work and how they are missing out on the valuable lessons of caring for and cleaning a slate board. Every generation it seems is destined to resist what is new and uncertain. I hear a lot of it in my work, about AI output, halucinations, limitations, etc.
In defense of the teachers, they may have just wanted the students to reap the benefits of handwriting. It does create some brain connections typing doesn't, after all... (I very much prefer typing, but switch to handwriting when stuck, and for one reason or another it often helps!)
Not sure if there is any parallel with AI here :D