Because of ChatGPT, American University Graduates Will Once Again Take Written Exams by Hand

Written assignments, responses to questions, essays, and short compositions will now need to be completed by hand in special exam booklets known as Blue Books. Incidentally, their sales have already increased by nearly 50% at the University of Florida and by over 30% at the University of Texas.

Traditionally, such booklets were used in the humanities departments. However, this new measure-or rather, a return to the pre-digital routine-has also extended to legal and technical disciplines. The likely reason for reinstating handwritten assessments is the growing number of cases of cheating and the use of chatbots, especially for writing essays, research papers, and tests. Faculty members believe that if students write these assignments by hand, it will be harder to plagiarize from ChatGPT or any other neural network.

Nonetheless, this decision has sparked debate among educators. One way or another, students will have to interact with artificial intelligence, so it is crucial that they learn how to manage neural networks effectively. Moreover, handwritten assignments are significantly more time-consuming and labor-intensive to grade.

Recently, it was reported that American graduates are expressing concern about their future employment prospects. According to a report by the platform Handshake, over 56% of respondents fear they won't find jobs because of artificial intelligence. The level of pessimism among students depends on their field of study. Those majoring in computer science are the most worried about their future. This is likely due to high-profile statements-for example, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang recently called programming an obsolete skill.

Furthermore, students' anxiety levels have increased significantly. Last year, 18% of IT students were pessimistic, whereas this year that figure has risen to 28%. In addition, graduates feel that during their university years, they did not acquire the necessary soft skills, such as effective communication with colleagues and superiors, productive participation in meetings and brainstorming sessions, giving and receiving feedback on their work. Employers, in turn, often say that applicants lack these essential interpersonal skills.

The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that having a university diploma in the U.S. has ceased to play a significant role. More and more employers are giving preference to experienced specialists, even if they do not hold a higher education degree. For instance, California is introducing special "career passports" to facilitate job searches for those without academic degrees or even diplomas. In fact, as early as last December, the state substantially lowered educational requirements for 30,000 government positions.