One way schools, from middle and high schools to universities, can mitigate AI-driven cheating and cognitive decline is by radically rethinking how they conduct final exams.
They should require in-person oral dissertations, presented before a panel of one to three teachers and lasting one to two hours. Ideally, the topic would be based on the student’s own original thesis.
This approach restores creativity and critical thinking, because at any moment during the examination, teachers can ask probing questions, explore unexpected tangents, and even encourage real-time brainstorming.
THIS is the kind of challenge that can help our species evolve beyond its current state of neurological atrophy.
NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study has been doing this since'72
*it was probably the most stimulating 4 years of my life.
How is this not what is currently the norm? How do dissertations work at your university, if they are not exactly this?
For PHDs yes. Everyone else takes written exams. Highschool needs this hard.
Ok. Here the equivalent of high school final exam also includes oral exams. But I don't see how written exams are problematic regarding AI-driven cheating. You only have pen and paper and depending on a subject a verified calculator or a provided dictionary. Also cheating with a paper is way easier and has higher odds of succeeding than trying to hide an electronic device.