Wonderful reader T. responded to yesterday's email with this request:
Love what you do… but please don't knock teachers! We work soooo hard, under such difficult circumstances. The industry exists on unpaid labor. Yes, the system sucks, and yes, the system is broken. But education is built on relationships. Teachers are people who care about their students. I do! Many people, like me, went into education because they loved kids, and the path of learning!
I agree with everything she's saying. Three of the most important people in my life were teachers:
First: my amazing 6th grade math teacher, Mr Jones, who took us all the way up to introductory calculus. He ran his class as a competition (Yong Yu won most of the time). But that competition caused us to learn at a 10x rate. And Mr Jones was available at 6:30am every day to support any student needing help. I came in to that school mid-year and was often there early for assistance.
Second: Mr Bressler, our 12th grade social studies teacher. I had serious attitude back then, but I couldn't help but love this guy who, when you entered his classroom, was reading the paper with his feet up on the desk. And then he'd ask the class an open ended question about a current event. If it wasn't for him, I might not have gone to college. I was going through serious problems and family breakdown, and the guidance counselor told me not to bother applying to Syracuse because I wouldn't get in. Bressler became visibly angry, told me I was way smart enough to do it, and after I got in he wanted a copy of my acceptance letter to put into her mailbox. Which we did - together.
Third: Professor McClure at SU. He made me re-write my first paper FIVE times. It was painful, but without him my thinking skills wouldn't be anywhere near what they are today. He had 165 students in his intro to poli-sci class. Within two weeks, he literally knew everybody's first name. Nobody could hide out. He made sure you learned. He used to work as a newspaper editor in Idaho, and then as a Congressional aide during the LBJ years.
What does this have to do with AI?
Jones, Bressler and McClure would not be at risk in any way whatsoever from AI. They are the lovable, untouchable top 0.5% of professionals in their field. Like T. pointed out above, they built relationships as a foundation to educational success.
Lacking a Mr Jones, who would do whatever he needed to do to make sure Connor understood how to solve the math problem, Connor turned to AI - which does a better job than 95% of teachers in explaining how to step-by-step solve the problem. Most teachers need to up their game because they are now competing against AI.
Next, let's look at doctors.
A 2023 study compared AI-driven chatbots, like ChatGPT, with human doctors in responding to patient inquiries. This study, led by researchers from UC San Diego, found that patients overwhelmingly preferred the chatbot responses—about 79% of the time. ChatGPT's responses were not only rated higher in quality but were also perceived as far more empathetic than those from physicians. Most doctors need to up their game because they are now competing against AI.
You can see this in action with how ChatGPT interacted with me about a potential vaccine reaction.
We could do the same thing for software developers like myself.
Use AI or Be Used By AI
We are all competing against AI now, no matter what your profession is. This is really good news because for too long we've had to put up with poor service from professionals of all types who think they have a lock on us. That lock is rapidly disintegrating.
The winners will be those who learn to use AI to become more human.
