One Day becomes Day One

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I know, I got the cliché backward - it's supposed to be Day One that leads to One Day... but hey, I'm a time traveler. 

And so, this week, after a couple of years of dreaming and planning and hammering out details, I returned to school. "One day I'll go back," became "Day one".


(At some point, it became obligatory to take pictures of your kids on their first day of school.  Well, here ya go. Thanks to my former colleagues for the backpack and the pins...)

The two classes I had are both first-year level, though reserved for music students. And this is how I came to be sitting next to a young man who was attending his very first lecture in his very first course after high school.

He is me, more than 40 years ago.

First reaction - I've yet to see anyone close to my situation. There can't be anyone in my two classes so far, aside from the profs, who is over 30. To call this feeling weird is underselling it. But I also think it's going to be good for me to be surrounded by these much-younger people, with their energy and perspectives.

And so far, everyone has been very nice. I'm a curiosity for my classmates, for sure, but there's no edge to their attitude. ("You must be Paul," said one prof with whom I had exchanged emails. "Was it the grey hair?" I asked. "Oh, you're blending in just fine," said another student, with a laugh.)

Weirdness aside, what I found really interesting is the attitude one of my profs is bringing, because it gets at the heart of what I want this blog to be about.

To call this professor anti-AI does not do it justice. The syllabus for the course (a sprawling look at the history of Western tonal music) says that students can take notes during the lecture with paper and pen. That's it. No electronic recording. No phones, no laptops. Written assignments can be word-processed, but all citations are to be from peer-reviewed sources only. No footnoting websites. Needless to say, any use of AI will get you a zero.

Over the last few weeks, I've read and heard a lot about how universities are dealing with AI. And it seems to me that there are two basic views. One approach sees the role of university as preparing people for future careers. And because AI is (for better or worse) becoming ubiquitous in the work world, students need to learn how to use this tool effectively by the time they graduate. 

The other approach sees the role university as preparing people to think critically and independently, and to express themselves in a logically sound way. In this view, using AI at university is like bringing a forklift to the gym - sure, you can lift the weights efficiently, but you're not getting the personal benefit from the exercise.

I understand the first argument, but it won't surprise you that the second view is much closer to my own.

So it will be very interesting to watch how this battle plays out over the next weeks and months. Despite the warning, a good handful of students had laptops or phones out on their desks, without comment. Will this hold in lectures 2 and 3 next week? Will the students be able to deal with academic rules that are very similar to what I remember from the 1980s? Stay tuned...

My final class starts tomorrow - an upper-year seminar course. Maybe there will be someone older than my kids, or a least born in a year starting with a 1.

Comments

  1. BetsySeptember 10, 2026 at 1:36 PM

    Too bad if you're in that class and have a learning disability! No recording, etc. Seems a bit much IMHO.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul BadertscherSeptember 10, 2026 at 3:24 PM

      I should have been more clear. Of course there are exceptions to the policy given where accommodations are needed.

      Delete
  2. sandracSeptember 11, 2026 at 4:07 AM

    I'm curious to hear more about your seminar course!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul BadertscherSeptember 11, 2026 at 5:07 AM

      Starts in a couple of hours, Sandra... I'll let you know!

      Delete

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