In his 2015 book, In Defense of a Liberal Education, Fareed Zakaria writes that, “the central virtue of a liberal education is that it teaches you how to write, and writing makes you think.” In other words, Zakaria is suggesting that writing precedes thinking, that putting together your thoughts actually follows when you are forced to articulate them precisely. “Being forced to write clearly means, first, you have to think clearly.”
Zakaria uses the two business examples to strengthen his argument: Bezos still asks his employees to draft multi-page memos for introducing new ideas, and Lockheed Martin’s CEO once remarked that amongst his 80,000 engineer and scientist employees, he found a strong correlation between clear writing ability and career advancement.
And here is where I begin to wonder …. if I can just jot down a few general ideas, without having to string them together in a cohesive narrative and painstakingly re-word them to be compelling, how much thinking am I losing? I am, of course, alluding to the potential danger that using generative AI would imply in terms of its impact on critical thinking – even for the most well-intentioned individuals who plan to use it “appropriately.”
From my experience as a former teacher, writer, and student myself, I am inclined to agree with Zakaria’s hypothesis that the development of ideas comes from the process of writing. So the question with AI then becomes, do you lose key parts of that process if you use AI to make your writing better? If so, is there a better way to use AI so that critical thinking skills continue to develop?
Take, for example, a student writing an essay on the character development arc of Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter series. For the sake of argument, let’s say the student has done all the research properly via valid sources, and is now just using generative AI in the following sense. If you’re interested in an experiment, I’ve included this example below.
There are two steps I was able to skip over leveraging chatGPT to create the narrative draft: first, I could write stream of consciousness without paying attention to the language and secondly, I didn’t really have to figure out how to transition between the disparate thoughts.
Given that you can now just jot down quick, bulleted thoughts and then ask AI to make that cohesive for you – and they do a damn good job at it – I do think you lose some of the ability to structure thoughts and think about what is integral to the argument vs. tangential. These are key critical thinking skills. Secondly, while some may argue that having a large vocabulary is not the same as being smarter and having better critical thinking skills (which is fair), picking the precise words to convey your message actually requires reflection and likely leads to idea development.
Look, I actually appreciate what AI can do. And for adults, using it sometimes – especially to accelerate a process step you know you can do (e.g., draft a business email) – is probably a good idea for productivity. But for learners, there’s a danger that it can detract.
To students, I would probably suggest actually doing the entire process of drafting and editing once – and then feeding it into an AI to see what you missed. As the author, you get “right of refusal” – you can accept changes selectively. Better yet, you can reflect on AI’s suggestions at each step (How did it suggest converting your notes into a narrative? What did it edit on your first draft?) and what you caught vs. missed, which could actually enhance and indeed accelerate your learning and critical thinking skills vs. not using it at all.
The unlock, of course, will be ensuring students have the intrinsic motivation to follow this process rather than taking the route of least resistance. And for that, I would love your thoughts and ideas. Maybe you can start by writing them down 🙂
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ChatGPT, please take the following ideas and draft them into a cohesive, compelling narrative:
Ginny Weasley is introduced as Ron Weasley’s shy little sister, with little to no role in the first two Harry Potter books. She is shown as the “damsel in distress” in the Chamber of Secrets. However, she grows into a strong character who eventually marries Harry himself- this is evidenced in the following scenarios:
- She is a sport-loving girl who plays Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team
- She is well-liked by many of the males in the school
- She is strong-willed, feisty, witty and defends Luna Lovegood to everyone who calls her “Loony”
- She is really skilled as a witch, which is shown with her Bat Bogey Hex in particular
- She is invited to the Slug Club of her own prowess and accord vs. everyone else who knew influential people
- When Harry breaks up with her at the end of book six, she is mature and understands that he needs to hunt Voldemort
While I wish the author had spent more time developing the Ginny Weasley story arc, so we could witness this change, it was a satisfying end. Ginny changed significantly from the love-struck 10-year old to the strong, badass woman who Harry eventually falls in love with.
With some additional prompts, we get this back:
In the corridors of Hogwarts, Ginny Weasley started out as Ron’s quiet younger sister, often overlooked in the shadow of her brothers and Harry’s adventures. But when danger lurked in the Chamber of Secrets, Ginny found courage she didn’t know she had.
As years passed, Ginny transformed into a standout figure. She excelled as Gryffindor’s Chaser on the Quidditch field, winning admiration from peers and rivals alike. Her wit and kindness won her friends, and she staunchly defended Luna Lovegood against those who mocked her.
Ginny’s magical talents were undeniable, especially her infamous Bat Bogey Hex. Her invitation to the Slug Club was based on her own achievements, not her family’s fame. And when Harry ended their relationship, Ginny showed maturity beyond her years, understanding his duty to fight Voldemort.
From a timid girl to a confident, independent woman, Ginny’s journey is a testament to inner strength and self-discovery in the magical world.