Reasonable questions

I remember a time when the business world was looking for English majors. I also remember reading an argument once that there should only be essay tests for English majors, because writing ability would not necessarily be important for other applications.

I'm not saying that these mindsets were close together.

As it is, it is not uncommon that regardless of how much you know about math and science, some of it may not be very useful without the ability to communicate it to others. 

I have been thinking about those things because of artificial intelligence, of course, where Grammarly and ChatGPT and automatic suggestions in word processing programs are all trying to guess and shape what you say.

However, I have also been thinking of it because of my schoolwork. One of the things I have studied has been Universal Design for Learning:

https://udlguidelines.cast.org/ 

One of its recommendations is to have multiple means of expression. If students have the option of reporting their research in not just a written essay, but perhaps in a slideshow or a video presentation, that may help more students to convey their learning. If what you want to know is that they understand the human digestive system -- not their ability to follow the standard five paragraph format -- then the essay may hold back some students who understand the digestive system really well.

That doesn't mean that things like vocabulary and expository ability aren't important, but maybe they don't need to come up every single time in every single class. There has to be some kind of balance.

Personally, I find the word suggestions annoying. If I don't know what I want to say, the program is unlikely to guess correctly for me. I don't mind the automatic spelling check. Typos happen.  

Expressing my thoughts and spelling are also both things that come easily to me, which I know affects my thinking on the issue.

I have found some of my school assignments very difficult to get started. Help might be more desirable there, except that in the struggle I do learn more about it. 

I am in school for the purpose of learning. 

There are people who don't feel that way. Schools put measures in place to try and prevent cheating and encourage original work, but sometimes it is hard to feel confident.

One concern I have is if we are getting a populace that won't value or desire expertise. There are some signs.

Educators can and are working on what better defining what the learning goals are, how to effectively accomplish them, and assessments to know whether they have been successful. That will help, but if too many people don't care, then what?

We have to decide on values and then stick to them. There is room for disagreement.

There is one area where I kind of feel ridiculous but am adhering to it anyway.

Since getting on Facebook, I have been very conscientious about wishing people a happy birthday; the reminder is right there, and if I am seeing it we have agreed to friendship, at least in the social media sense.

Some time ago, Facebook started automatically populating the birthday wish, giving a few additional options in case you didn't like the main one. There are always little emojis too.

I am erasing that every time and doing my own birthday wish. 

It is a less grammatically correct one, because Facebook always puts the comma before the name. I know that's correct, but it doesn't feel natural to me so I had not been doing it. (That's assuming I use the name, because if you are the age of my parents or I used to call you a nickname and now you are going by your full name... there are some neuroses at play, I know.)

Spending that extra time so that your birthday wish is less fancy is part of me being me. I will continue to do so. Even if I accidentally hit "Enter" I will go to your page and edit it. That's the kind of weirdo I am.

That is one way I stay human.