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Teaching undergraduates the art of survival in unsettled times
What happens when a university sends its students into the real world to see if they can act and adapt when there is no obvious script to follow?
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If we truly want to prepare students for a world that makes a mockery of plans, we should stop pretending that more technique alone will suffice, say the writers.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Simon Chesterman, Daniel PS Goh, Loy Hui Chieh
At a recent job interview, a candidate was asked a question that would have been unthinkable not long ago: What can you do that ChatGPT cannot? It was posed half in jest, but only half. Elsewhere, we still hear the familiar complaint that students today are the “strawberry generation” – easily bruised, quick to wilt, reluctant to endure discomfort.
These two anxieties are usually treated separately. They should not be. If machines can now perform a growing number of routine cognitive tasks, and if the world our students are entering is more volatile than that faced by previous generations, then the qualities that matter most are no longer simply speed, polish or the ability to produce the correct answer on demand. They are judgment, resilience, empathy, adaptability and the confidence to act when there is no obvious script to follow.
