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by squigz 365 days ago
It's been possible for a very long time to try to learn things yourself - and I don't just mean the courses and other resources available online these days; one could always have went to a library and learned that way.

The thing is, people still went to school. Why is that, do you think?
1 comments
_0ffh 365 days ago
Because you can't just ask a book a question and instantly get presented with an answer at any required level of detail.

Apart from that, coercion and credentialism, where the latter can be provided with testing alone.

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squigz 364 days ago
How do you know what questions to ask? How do you know the LLM is giving a good answer?

Asking questions and getting answers is only one part of learning; another, more important part, that's missing is putting it in context and laying it out in a manner that teaches the topic in a way that develops actual expertise. This is one part of the actual role of educators - which aren't going to go anywhere. To say nothing of the other benefits of an actual education: credentials, showing you can stick to something long-term, etc.

In any case, I don't disagree that LLMs can and should change education, and for the better - but I don't think universities are going anywhere, nor should they.

Anyway, if learning becomes so easily accessible, wouldn't it be even more important for employers to be able to vet potential hires? Surely companies can't be expected to interview the thousand new applicants that have put applicable skills on their resume simply because they talked to an LLM for a few hours and think that's sufficient to learn it?

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_0ffh 364 days ago
Yes, you design a curriculum and feed it to the LLM. One person con do that for a course once, and then you can broadly leave it like that, with occasional updates - while each student gets their own personal teacher.

Educational cost could plummet like a rock while significantly improving results, if we just dare to allow it!

> wouldn't it be even more important for employers to be able to vet potential hires

Yes, I mentioned "testing" twice already. And most of that could be done via LLM as well, at least a coarse pre-screening for the obvious frauds. Also, where are all those people who claim to be Physicists "simply because they talked to an Physicist for a few hours"? You send the children through the curriculum, then you test them, as I said. Doesn't even have to be the same institution that does it.

School as we know it is a dead institution walking, and good riddance, and I very much hope the universities as we know them will cease to exists right along with it.

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squigz 364 days ago
> School as we know it is a dead institution walking, and good riddance, and I very much hope the universities as we know them will cease to exists right along with it.

Also, when can we expect this to happen? I mean, I've been waiting for this since computers, then the Internet, and now LLMs have been around for several years, so just curious.

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squigz 364 days ago
"Testing" is not really a good indicator of whether you were properly educated - that's why students get an overall grade not solely based on the year-end test.

I'm also not sure why you think testing would not go obsolete with traditional schooling?

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