In a recent New York Times article – “Two-Thirds of Kids Struggle to Read, and We Know How to Fix it” by Nicholas Kristof (February, 11, 2023) – there is data to illustrate that students in the United States, at the elementary school level, are behind in their ability to read and write compared to their peers of 25 years ago.

To be clear, this lag in reading skills is most apparent in students who do not have access to “resources” such as computers, wifi, quality teachers, etc. As you might imagine, the pandemic years from 2020-2022 only accentuated the issue.

And what about the impacts of excessive phone usage, with texting, emojis, Tiktok and acronym-based messages, and its potential impacts on reading and writing? Surely, 25 years from now, there will be data on this too.

But now, moms and dads, there is more. More to consider. Welcome to ChatGPT.

ChatGPT is a chatbot type of artificial intelligence (AI); it is easily accessible to anyone, including your kids. To be more specific, ChatGPT, according to Wikipedia, can, “write and debug computer programs, compose music, teleplays and fairy tales” and, wait for it, “write students’ essays” and “answer test questions”!

If you have not heard of nor tried ChatGPT, you need to. ChatGPT, if you listen to the educational doomsayers, has the potential to render obsolete the traditional essay assignment, take home exam and online course. And, it could alter a host of workplace related tasks too.

For those of you who are close to my vintage and are familiar with the once popular student study guides, ChatGPT could be considered “Coles Notes on steroids.” In theory, or in the case of adolescent time mismanagement, a student would not have to read the novel, they would not have to write an answer; their computer or, specifically, AI in the form of ChatGPT, will do it for them!

There are a host of documented flaws and challenges associated with ChatGPT. As a school, we are reviewing, and will continue to review and consider, how best to manage this massive change to reading, writing and arithmetic. And, homework.

In this week’s Parents’ Newsletter, TCS’s Assistant Head of Senior School - Teaching & Learning, Mr. Myke Healy, has submitted insights on how our school is dealing with ChatGPT at this point in time.

I am also going to ask YOU to do some homework as parents. Go online and learn more about these new AI tools (click here to learn more from Mr. Myke Healy and some of his recommended resources), or, better yet, go check out ChatGPT for yourself.

Type in any question you want and be prepared to be surprised by the answer it generates.

Oh. And, for the record, I wrote this blog myself. Honestly!