The Torch
A deep dive into classical education
How Do We Take "Old Thoughts" and Live in a New and Ever-Changing World?
At the start of this glorious month of May, I received a beautiful message from a former student who graduated in 2018. She said, “I thought you’d appreciate that I’m the only person in my job who understands basic sentence structure and the proper uses of singular and plural verbs for singular and plural subjects. Thanks, Latin :)”. These are the kinds of messages from our students that make my heart sing. First, because they simply reach out to us, and second, because I am able to see that our students have learned how to write and use their voice to express their ideas, opinions, and incontrovertible truths. For this issue of The Torch, I propose that it is our students’ voices that are the ways our students take “old-thoughts” and live in a new and ever-changing world.
To explore the idea of voice, I’m going to irritate some of our educational community. As far as I can tell, the most talked-about topic in the last few months among educational circles has been the use of ChatGPT or Artificial Intelligence (AI). ChatGPT has been described as “a scourge”, the “killer of the college essay”, and “a danger to education”. For those of you who have not yet been introduced to ChatGPT, it is an OpenAI chatbot that is able to compose essays and scripts, analyze data, and solve complex problems in mathematics.
This topic even came to my home a couple of Friday evenings ago, as my husband and I decompressed on our deck. He works at a teleradiology company in Eden Prairie where radiologists from around the world are able to read medical images from any patient. He mentioned that Artificial Intelligence has improved the teleradiology business by acting as an “extra team member” to the radiologist by analyzing and prioritizing medical images that need immediate human attention. This led to a discussion of how students are using AI to write their papers for them, and how sad it makes both us who were (and always will be) diehard English majors.
I am not the first to say this, nor will I be the last, but AI is not going anywhere. Nor should it, due to its inarguable benefits across various industries. So, how are we able to convince our students to resist using ChatGPT to write their essays for them? As much as I believe we have incredibly virtuous students, the temptation is real for all of them.
My exhortation for our students to resist ChatGPT for essay writing is quite simple: if you are not writing your own work, you have given up your voice. In a democratic society, everyone’s voice is important. One of the enduring reasons that we commit to classical education is that the model promotes knowledgeable and responsible citizens who understand that their voice matters. We believe in this so much that we wrote it into our Strategic Plan, specifically drawing “on student voices to influence improvements to the school”.
We love our students’ voices, whether they be raised in song at one of our many concerts throughout the year, cheering at a sports event, chanting a table of Latin endings in a classroom, or defending their senior thesis to a panel of teachers. These students are truly poised to engage as thoughtful global citizens, and I am proud to see how they live in an ever-changing world.
May we continue to hear each other's voices (and remember our noun-verb agreements),
Dr. Missy Johnson
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2021-2022 The Torch
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As a teacher and student of Latin and Greek, the classical model was a natural choice for me as an educator. I hold the teaching of grammar, logic, rhetoric, and virtues in high regard for learners of all ages and backgrounds. Nova Classical’s community model is inspiring, and I hope to bring thoughtfulness and openness to the Great Conversation.