PJH Studios

Tag: college

  • AI teaches college English

    A long but insightful article where a college English professor allowed students to use ChatGPT for assignments. What makes the usage interesting is that he encouraged to evaluate and compare human centered writing versus the AI output. In the end, still began to critically evaluate how to use a technology.

    There are valid reasons why college students in particular might prefer that AI do their writing for them: most students are overcommitted; college is expensive, so they need good grades for a good return on their investment; and AI is everywhere, including the post-college workforce. There are also reasons I consider less valid (detailed in a despairing essay that went viral recently), which amount to opportunistic laziness: if you can get away with using AI, why not?

    It was this line of thinking that led me to conduct an experiment in my English classroom. I attempted the experiment in four sections of my class during the 2024-2025 academic year, with a total of 72 student writers. Rather than taking an “abstinence-only” approach to AI, I decided to put the central, existential question to them directly: was it still necessary or valuable to learn to write? The choice would be theirs. We would look at the evidence, and at the end of the semester, they would decide by vote whether A.I. could replace me.

  • What a college career center should be

    Yes, the college career services should offer the following stock services:

    • Resume and cover letter help (I’d argue that cover letters are a waste)
    • Mock interviews – know how to talk and be self aware
    • Resources for soul searching to figure out skills and interests

    I’d expand with the following:

    • No nonsense, active tips, in the vein of Ramit Sethi, where individuals are encouraged to be aware of their strengths and market the hell out of them.
    • Industry, pull-the-curtain-back on how businesses and careers run, styled like Penelope Trunks‘ detailed missives.
    • Light hearted life coaching that encourages personal introspection, ala Therese Schwenkler
    • Big, bold, constructive, have no fear to do good work, as told by Seth Godin

    What links the four individuals? An emphasis on active actions (monster.com, sending out resumes are passive), where we’re self aware of what the hell we’re doing.

    Sethi details psychology of actions and their perceived impacts. He may come across as arrogant in his style, however, fine tune his advice to the point of self  confidence. Formatting and whitespace on a resume ain’t gonna do that.

    Trunk hails as the veteran, the insider, the one who’s been there and still doing it.  She seeks out information to gleam insights into trends or to justify why a common approach really doesn’t work. She emphasizes doing something and learning about what your learning–random jobs can teach you something.

    Schwenkler brings the “life balance” dialogue to the career center.  If you’re not happy, aren’t aware of your attitudes, all your relationships will be a challenge. She’s that cool, slightly quirky advisor that can actually relate to people.

    Godin is a marketer of life.  His writing belies an understanding that puts everything into perspective–career and life and all that we want to do with it. So long as we’re honest, working to do the right thing and not be afraid of our self doubts, we’ll be successful.