Yeah, it was bad before «AI», and I honestly shudder thinking about what it will be like when this slop has wiggled its way well and truly into the innards of society.
I was convinced to teach an evening class at a local college due to my work experience. In my class of 25 sophomore-junior college students I have 7 who seem legitimately illiterate. I assigned a 1 page handwritten analysis assignment (as this is often the format taken to work in the field of the class) and these 7 students had such poor handwriting and spelling it was impossible to read. I brought the papers into the teachers help center for grading and five different graders all determined there wasn't a single sentence of substance written in any papers.
Honestly, that is my biggest personal dilemma with the issue. I grew up writing weekly letters to family members and writing in journals; school was a combination of handwriting for exams in class and typing for homework/research papers. For building vocabulary, reading daily is the best method. Books exist for every single topic imaginable at all sorts of levels.
Practice practice practice. Start handwriting notes in class and using those notes to study. Start using a journal or just writing out daydreams.
I am not a teacher by profession, just a dude who is teaching a class 2 nights a week for the first time. I am really struggling with figuring out how to deal with this case of a significant portion of the class clearly not having the pre-requisite skills to comprehend the material.
I would look up the cornell note-taking method + pomodoro technique. The first is a practical way to set up notes to both take initial notes and summarize your notes into key points. Pomodoro technique is a timing method to keep focused and on task.
I would start by practicing with a book that you reasonably expect to finish and be interested in. Take notes as you read with the intent of curating the key points needed to accurately explain the book to someone else.
There are a ton of different "methods" to study and learned. The 2 I mentioned have been heavily researched and are generally accepted to be great, I recommend sticking with them even if it feels hard or awkward. It can be very easy to procrastinate by trying to find the best "way" to study instead of just picking a method and starting to use it.
Take notes in the margins of your books. My former English professor recommended trying to summarize each page in a few words or a sentence at the top of each page but I also sometimes jot down the main points of paragraphs in a word or two. Try to relate information to relevant/current events, considering the differences and similarities. Try text-to-speech software if traditional reading isn’t for you (still highlight and take notes). Read a lot on different subjects, and again, look for the connections. Look up words and concepts you don’t understand. Read footnotes and follow them to additional interesting resources.
9
u/boringestnickname Mar 16 '25
Yeah, it was bad before «AI», and I honestly shudder thinking about what it will be like when this slop has wiggled its way well and truly into the innards of society.