Post #4405375

2026-08-06 02:33 UTC

Quite a few friends of mine are academics, teaching in universities. One was just saying she hit a new low - not one student, not ONE in her tutorial had done the reading. All just read a chatGPT synopsis. She's utterly despairing, as the uni itself just makes motions to hand-wave it. They have to pass students, you see, to get their money. They can't just fail all of them. Or even most of them. It's gotten so bad she outright said "I honestly wouldn't trust a degree handed out after the existence of chatGPT. They mean nothing."

Replies (2)

@abstractcode@eigenmagic.net 2026-08-06 02:37

@vampiress@eigenmagic.net This is a logical* outcome of degrees becoming the thing that lets you get job, not about learning and expanding who you are. I was going to say endgame but they can make it worse. I did the wrong degree and was a terrible student (thanks, undiagnosed ADHD). But it signals I made it through and for some reason that's a positive? I don't really recall anything much from the degree. But the performative nature of the system has been progressively turning up for some time.

Open ##4477515
@tuban_muzuru@beige.party 2026-08-06 02:56

@vampiress@eigenmagic.net The kid who could bluff his way past a professor cold, with nothing but nerve and a half-read synopsis, has basically already demonstrated the one skill that actually correlates with getting funded: talking a room full of skeptical people into believing you understand something you're still figuring out in real time. Half of Silicon Valley runs on that exact talent, just pointed at VCs instead of TAs.

Open ##4477519