{"id":2027629,"date":"2023-09-11T03:23:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T07:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-chatgpt-could-actually-be-a-good-thing-for-high-school-english\/"},"modified":"2023-09-11T09:00:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T13:00:09","slug":"why-chatgpt-could-actually-be-a-good-thing-for-high-school-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-chatgpt-could-actually-be-a-good-thing-for-high-school-english\/","title":{"rendered":"ChatGPT has the potential to greatly benefit high school English education."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhy-chatgpt-could-actually-be-a-good-thing-for-high-school-english%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2027629&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2>ChatGPT: Revolutionizing High School English<\/h2>\n<p>As\u200c with many aspects of modern life, ChatGPT has made major disruptions in education, particularly high school English. During those critical\u2064 years when students are finding\u200d their voice, forming their positions on issues, \u2064and honing their reasoning, they now have access to \u200da powerful \u2063program \u200bthat \u200dwill do all the work for them.<\/p>\n<p>While it\u2019s true that students could always try to \u200dplagiarize \u2063or \u201cget extra help\u201d from a friend, it was \u2062easy enough to spot these instances \u2014 or, if not, software like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.turnitin.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Turnitin<\/a> would usually\u2064 catch it. Large language models like \u200dChatGPT can not only generate original content but also tailor it \u200bto reflect\u2062 a particular style, so it\u2019s nearly impossible to detect whether it\u2019s \u200bbeing used.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This is already creating a\u200d major headache for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.collegeboard.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">College\u2064 Board<\/a>, the\u2062 testing company responsible for creating\u200b and administering\u200b the SAT and AP \u200bexams. This past year,\u2064 scorers \u2062of \u2063essay \u200dsubmissions for the \u200dAP Research\u200d and Seminar exams\u200c had to make a judgment\u2064 call on whether to accept the essay \u2014 usually if the AI-generated \u200bcontent exceeded\u200c a certain percentage of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fbi-raid-of-trump-residence-unprecedented-says-former-swat-officer\/\" title=\"FBI Raid of Trump Residence \u2018Unprecedented\u2019, Says Former SWAT Officer\">total content<\/a>. This problem will \u2062only worsen as more students <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/education\/2023\/06\/01\/students-chatgpt-ai-tools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rely on AI for everything<\/a> from helping with proofreading to writing whole essays.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Even for exams where students are asked to write timed essays, like in \u200bEnglish Language and Composition\u200b (which \u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmind.org\/salvo\/a-conservative-classical-college-board\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">I teach and score<\/a>) and English Literature and Composition, ChatGPT is also posing serious\u2064 challenges. Because these exams are <a href=\"https:\/\/apcentral.collegeboard.org\/exam-administration-ordering-scores\/digital-ap-exams\/key-facts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">currently transitioning from paper \u200cto the computer<\/a>, teachers will be asking their students to practice typing their essays on the computer instead of\u2062 writing them on\u200d notebook paper. On one \u200bhand, students\u2062 won\u2019t need to worry about building up their handwriting\u2063 skills, nor will teachers have \u200bto worry about deciphering their bad handwriting.\u2063 On the \u2064other\u2064 hand, students will now be tempted\u200c to\u200b use AI to write their essays, and teachers will\u200d struggle to keep them \u2064honest.<\/p>\n<p>Doubtless, this change could spell doom \u2063for some high\u200b school\u2062 English \u200cclasses, but then again, it might actually do the opposite. For too long, English teachers have either given \u200cup on teaching essay composition or have done a terrible job at it. ChatGPT may be the thing that breaks\u200b this spell of mediocrity by prompting educators to reconsider the purpose of \u200dwriting. Instead of a lifeless \u200cprocess \u200cthat involves\u200d conforming to an \u200bendless series of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/laura-hollis-the-wisdom-of-the-ten-commandments\/\" title=\"Laura Hollis: The Wisdom of the Ten Commandments\">seemingly arbitrary rules<\/a> that\u200c results \u200bin composing a few dull blocks of text, writing can become an art form that disciplines and \u2063cultivates the mind and\u200b connects students with reality.<\/p>\n<p>A case in\u2063 point is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2023\/08\/chatgpt-rebirth-high-school-english\/675189\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recent essay<\/a> in The Atlantic: \u201cHigh-School English Needed a Makeover Before ChatGPT,\u201d by\u2064 Daniel Herman. Herman began \u2064with a \u200dstory about\u200b one of \u2064his \u200dstudents writing a \u201cstandard \u2063eight-to-10-page research paper\u201d on <em>Moby Dick<\/em>. The student had some ideas on \u2063how to\u200b write the \u200bpaper but then succumbed to using ChatGPT: \u200b\u201cI\u202fhappened\u2064 to walk past\u200c his\u200d computer as he watched ChatGPT perform in \u206310 seconds what \u2063had taken him many hours and many \u200dcups of coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This provoked some soul-searching for Herman\u2062 who had assigned this kind\u200d of essay for\u200d 13 years. He realized the\u200b essays were always pretty \u2064bad, as students would fumble through their arguments, \u2062repeating themselves, going in circles,\u200c and clogging their paragraphs \u2062with pretentious nonsense. It\u2019s \u2063no wonder they would resort to using a computer program to write \u2062these essays when given the\u200b chance.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Herman decided to stop giving \u201cthe big essay\u201d on <em>Moby Dick<\/em>; instead, he assigns more \u2063informal\u2062 writing responses that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-chatgpt-could-actually-be-a-good-thing-for-high-school-english\/\" title=\"ChatGPT has the potential to greatly benefit high school English education. It can provide students with a platform to practice their language skills, engage in interactive conversations, and receive instant feedback. This technology can enhance their writing and communication abilities, ultimately improving their overall English proficiency.\">accompany book club discussions<\/a>. \u2062Students write their responses \u201cin a spiral notebook,\u201d and rather than using a standardized rubric to grade these essays, he grades them on\u2063 a more individual basis. The main goal is to \u2064encourage the students to \u201cdiscover their own mind\u201d and not \u2063feel the need to \u2064consult\u200d ChatGPT.<\/p>\n<p>While I object to the drop \u200bin difficulty \u2014 it\u2019s a lot easier to jot down \u2063journal entries than to organize and draft a formal essay \u2014 I \u2064think Herman\u2019s approach is a\u200b step in the right direction. It was \u200bridiculous to ask a \u2064group of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/debunking-the-aclus-ridiculous-myths-and-facts-about-transgender-athletes\/\" title=\"Debunking The ACLU\u2019s Ridiculous \u2018Myths And Facts\u2019 About Transgender Athletes\">high schoolers<\/a> to write a coherent research\u2064 paper on one of the most difficult texts in American literature, something that \u2064most college students cannot accomplish. If \u2062the students didn\u2019t outright \u200dplagiarize the essay or have their tutor \u200dor \u2062parent serve as a ghostwriter, then whatever they ended up producing must\u200c have been nearly unreadable.<\/p>\n<p>Even without ChatGPT, Herman and other writing teachers \u2064should ask what students learn from these projects. As writing professor Kim Brooks observes in her essay, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2011\/05\/11\/death_to_high_school_english\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Death to High School English<\/a>,\u201d many high schoolers must read the classics and write a multi-page \u200bliterary analysis on each of \u2064them, while never really growing \u200bas thinkers and writers. Brooks suggests assigning shorter, primarily nonfiction texts that serve as models for \u200bteaching students to write clear, concise \u2064arguments of their own that <a href=\"https:\/\/wwnorton.com\/books\/They-Say-I-Say\/#!\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">engage with a larger conversation<\/a>. Using Brooks\u2019 essays and\u2064 others, I have\u2062 done this\u2064 in my classes, and the strategy has been much more effective, especially for kids who normally hate writing.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>There are some who may wonder \u2062if it\u2019s even\u2063 necessary \u2062to teach today\u2019s high schoolers to learn how to write. After all, they can tell ChatGPT to write for them,\u2064 so shouldn\u2019t English teachers\u2062 focus on showing their students how to plug in the parameters for a given essay? This argument sounds similar to another argument that emerged in the internet age:\u2064 Because students can look\u200d up anything on the internet, there was \u2062little\u200c point in asking \u200cthem to memorize facts.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The \u200canswer to both of these objections \u2064is the same: Students\u2062 must practice writing and memorizing facts so they can grow in knowledge and understanding and thereby become independent critical \u2063thinkers. As\u200b I remind my students daily, <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/practicecomesfirst\/dr-jordan-b-petersons-10-step-guide-to-clearer-thinking-through-essay-writing-1ab79a94937\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">writing is thinking<\/a>. The more we write, the stronger\u200d our minds become, \u2064making us better communicators,\u2064 planners,\u2064 analysts, creators, critics \u2014 just better\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-conservatism-must-conserve\/\" title=\"What Conservatism Must Conserve\">human beings<\/a> overall. When we outsource our \u200down thinking to ChatGPT, we \u200bare outsourcing\u200c our basic humanity, which will\u200b end up \u2062making us \u2064profoundly\u2063 stupid and\u200c sad.<\/p>\n<p>So, yes, despite the advances \u200din AI, there\u2019s still a place for high school English, perhaps an even\u200d greater one\u200d than before. The kind of\u200b work that\u2064 happens in these classes\u2064 is crucial for turning students into\u200c intellectually autonomous adults\u2062 capable \u2064of\u200c making decisions,\u2062 forming connections, and changing the \u200bworld.<\/p>\n<p>In the\u200b past, we would say it\u2019s the kind \u200bof learning that separates\u2064 human beings from animals. \u2064In the\u2063 increasingly automated\u2062 world of\u200b today, we can say it\u2019s the kind of learning \u2062that\u2062 separates human beings from robots.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>true that ChatGPT can assist students in generating ideas and improving their writing skills, it is crucial to strike a balance. Overreliance on this program may hinder their personal growth and development. It is important to encourage students to actively engage in critical thinking and express their own unique perspectives to foster independent learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":551,"featured_media":2027630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2027629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/551"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2027629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2027630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2027629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2027629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2027629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}