Why ChatGPT’s Assault on Homework Is Good for Education

Let’s break it down into a few categories. For the sake of this article, I’m assuming an audience of late middle school/early high school students, but many of these principles apply to college students as well. College students just tend to be more philosophically committed one way or the other already — they’re going to make a sincere effort because they want to learn or they’re going to find the lazy way out no matter what the instructor does. For elementary kids, let’s pretend for a moment that we don’t live in the dystopia where 9-year-olds have unrestricted access to the internet on their phones and are inexcusably unsupervised while completing copious amounts of homework for a class that has no bearing on their future careers as influencers. Anyway. Shall we begin?

Math

What is the square root of 300? No — don’t you dare reach for a calculator.

You need to separate this bad boy into factors. 300 = 3 x 100, and the square root of 100 is 10, which you should have memorized somewhere between learning the digits of pi and the sum of all angles in a dodecahedron, so we have √300 = √100 x √3 = 10√3 which is … not helpful.

Let’s back this way up. In what far-fetched real-life scenario would you need to express the square root of 300 as a radical? How often do you need to know the square root of anything? And if you do, you use a calculator. (It’s 17.32 by the way. You’re welcome.) 

This is exactly why most chalk-dust-covered, sweater-vest-wearing purists will tell you that calculations are not mathematics. If you want to learn what a square root is, conceptually, I recommend a hands-on geometry lab with little tiles arranged in squares on a table. If you just need to know the answer, of course a computer should do it for you.

So a worksheet of 50 random computations is akin to manual data entry. If a kid cheats, good for them — these kinds of tasks should be automated. Meaningful mathematics is about applied problem-solving, pattern recognition, and deductive reasoning. Use story problems. Get interdisciplinary with science labs, architecture and design, or personal finance. Math should be mentally stimulating, not six sheets of notebook paper to “show your work” to prove that you didn’t use a calculator.

Language Arts

What is the major theme in John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress?”

Write a five-paragraph essay using quotes from the book. Cite the page numbers. Try not to fall asleep face-first on your keyboard because this essay is so boring.

One of the problems with traditional ELA — and I say this as an English teacher — is that these kinds of questions give the perception that there is a “right” answer. What is the theme? Yes, teachers will encourage students to choose their own paths and defend their ideas, but if you Google this, you will find an “answer.” (It’s “the burden of sin and salvation through Christ” according to LitCharts. Et voilà!) 

So, from the student’s point of view, these essays are often seen as “read a book you don’t particularly enjoy, read my mind as to what it’s about, and then write a formulaic essay with no room for creativity.” Of course there’s a temptation to use a chatbot to write that essay.

Instead, I’m a fan of writing workshops. Give students projects and assignments that allow for real choice and authentic voice, then apply those literary techniques throughout the revision process. A teacher might give a mini-lesson on theme, then give the feedback that a student’s essay is a little bit confusing because it’s discussing too many themes at once. In other words, immediately show why the lesson matters in a personal creative context.

Everything from weighing in on current events to deconstructing their favorite YouTuber’s delivery (why are they funny? What techniques do they use?) is on the table. Class time should include multiple rounds of revisions and discussion — verbal processing is hugely underrated!

I’ll put it another way. If ChatGPT could write a convincing B/B+ essay using just the essay prompt, it’s a bad essay prompt. When students find their voices and feel that their ideas matter, they won’t want to cheat anyway.