'Please do your homework with ChatGPT'
(Saying the contrary is useless anyway, if not counterproductive)
Hi! I’m Laure, a passionate tutor with 2500+ hours of experience helping students navigate through their learning journey.
While I started tutoring 6+ years ago, my work, like that of so many of us, has changed almost 2 years ago because of one new tool: ChatGPT.
Yes, it will soon be 2 years since the first version of ChatGPT has been released.
Soon 2 years that teachers have, for most of them, declared ChatGPT as their new Public Enemy No 1.
And soon 2 years that students don’t care, and use it still.
Without admitting it to their teachers, of course. But in my office, behind closed doors, the secret gets out.
And what it implies scares me. But not for the reasons you may think.
After these soon 2 years of ChatGPT in our lives, my conclusion is this:
It’s time we allow students to use ChatGPT for their homework.
Because…
Their future employers will probably expect them to know how to use it.
You have probably been taught the basics of how to use a computer in school.
Because it was a new tool, a powerful one, and an important skill that you would be required to have in the workplace.
Same goes with ChatGPT: it’s a new tool, a powerful one, and knowing how to use it will probably be an important skill that future workers will be required to have.
It would have been crazy not to educate students about how to use a computer 20 years ago. It might be just as crazy not to teach students how to properly use ChatGPT today.
If a task is fully doable with ChatGPT, the problem is not ChatGPT or the student. It’s the task.
A simple example taken from a recent conversation with a student:
‘I don’t know why I’m bothering with my math homework. My friend does it with ChatGPT. 5 minutes and boom, 20 questions done.
-Oh yeah? And what did your friend understand from their homework then?
-I don’t know. They get good grades though.
-I see. But the teacher never notices when homework is done by ChatGPT?
-No, they can’t know. We just write our answer online on our homework app, then the app says if we’re right or not, and our teacher just sees who did their homework, who got what grade on them, and writes an email to the parents of students who didn’t do their homework.
-Oh, I see. What do you think about this: your teacher gives you 3 questions to do on paper, and at the beginning of each lesson they pick one student at random to come and work it out on the board.
-Ha-ha. My friend would be screwed.’
If the student feels they should hide that they use ChatGPT, the trust relationship is broken.
If a teenager starts smoking and lies about it, it says something about the trust they put in others.
If a teenager drinks alcohol and lies about it, it says something about the trust they put in others.
If a teenager leaves their home without authorization, it says something about the trust they put in others.
If a teenager uses ChatGPT and lies about it…
You would not give a sharp knife to a toddler.
Giving students access to social media, ChatGPT, and the Internet in general, without proper education about it is close to that.
Because it’s letting them use a powerful tool while being clueless about it.
A simple example: ChatGPT is not a reliable source of information.
Just like Wikipedia isn’t.
And yet, many, many users of both ChatGPT and Wikipedia do not know it.
Wikipedia can be edited by anyone: while they try their best to be very effective to correct misinformation when it is spread on it, you can never know if you’re not reading a page at the wrong moment.
In its first version, if you asked ChatGPT to compare a duck’s egg with a cow’s egg, it did. If you don’t see the problem, re-read the sentence. This mistake has been corrected in recent versions as it has been widely used to show the limitations of the tool. The principle of ChatGPT however remains the same: the user is always right1. Which is probably dangerous to say to a teenager…
This caption is just to give you an idea of the kind of conversations you can still have with ChatGPT today:
Forbidding it is the best way to encourage teenagers to overuse it.
Do you seriously know a teenager who doesn’t disobey the traditional ‘don’t do this’ instructions?
Adolescence is a moment in life where one needs to test the boundaries, push their limits, see the consequences of their rebellion, and start learning how to face it.
Forbidding something to a teenager without educating them about the reasons of this restriction is probably the best way to encourage them to explore their boundaries using this specific thing.
Forbidding while educating about cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, excessive screen time is important: it’s a matter of health.
Forbidding a tool like ChatGPT is probably not as relevant, for all the reasons mentioned above.
How can you let your child use ChatGPT now if you always forbid them to?
Communicate: take the time to explain them what the tool is, its limitations and its proper usage. You're clueless about it? Great! Do your research with your child and educate yourselves together: this can turn into a nice bonding moment.
Help your child see the limits: trick ChatGPT together into saying something obviously wrong. While it can turn into a hilarious moment together, it will still teach your child a lesson: never trust the tool fully.
Explain the benefits, but also the potential losses: if ChatGPT is doing your math homework, will you really be ready for your test?
within the limits of law and morale. ChatGPT will not, for instance, explain how to make a bomb, or generate pornographic contents. To be more accurate, within the limits of the conditions of use of the platform, which thus has a big power in defining what is good morale or not, potentially leading to other societal issues in the future.