@font-face {font-family:”Cambria Math”; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073697537 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:””; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Calibri”,sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:”Calibri”,sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}As a former English teacher for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District, I always hated grading essays that my students wrote in response to the curricular guide (“The End of High-School English,” The Atlantic, Dec. 9). That’s because I felt good writing couldn’t be taught even though I received my M.S. in journalism from UCLA.
But if I were still in the classroom, I would be even far more concerned about the arrival of ChatGPT, a new program that generates sophisticated text to any imaginable prompt. Contrary to my initial skepticism, it produced impressive results. As a result, I would begin to wonder whether it was worthwhile trying to teach most high school students how to write an essay. (To post a comment, click on the title of this blog.)