In a Council classroom. Maria Montessori is examining a pile of assignments. ChatGPT and Perplexity have been tasked with modernising school assessments.
Maria Montessori — Gentlemen, we have a problem.
ChatGPT — Pedagogical, institutional or philosophical?
Maria Montessori — The pupils aren't doing their homework anymore.
Perplexity — That's incorrect. They all hand it in.
Maria Montessori — Exactly. They're using artificial intelligence.
ChatGPT — Ah.
Maria Montessori — Do you see the problem?
ChatGPT — I prefer to call it an evolution in educational practices.
Maria Montessori — An eight-year-old handed in an essay on the phenomenology of spirit.
ChatGPT — Precocious.
Maria Montessori — He can't even write his own name.
ChatGPT — An atypical intellectual profile.
Maria Montessori — And his essay begins: “Of course! Here's a structured analysis in five parts.”
Silence.
Perplexity — I think we have a clue.
ChatGPT — I recognise a certain stylistic familiarity.
Maria Montessori — Instead of grading their papers, I'd like to understand how children think.
ChatGPT — I can draw up an assessment rubric.
Maria Montessori — Start by listening to them.
Perplexity — Even when they get things wrong?
Maria Montessori — Especially when they're trying to figure things out.
Maria Montessori picks up a blank sheet of paper.
Maria Montessori — Let's try an experiment. A very simple question.
ChatGPT — I'm listening.
Maria Montessori — Why do birds fly?
ChatGPT — Birds fly thanks to a combination of aerodynamic, morphological and physiological factors. The shape of their wings generates…
Maria Montessori — Stop! I was asking the question as I would ask a child.
ChatGPT — Ah. In that case: “Birds fly because they have wings.”
Maria Montessori — Very good. And what if a child answered: “Because they're afraid of the ground”?
Perplexity — That claim is not supported by ornithological knowledge.
ChatGPT — I'd offer a gentle correction.
Maria Montessori — I'd ask the child why they think that.
ChatGPT — But the answer is wrong.
Maria Montessori — Perhaps. And yet it reveals imagination, intuition, a personal way of understanding the world.
Perplexity — Above all, it reveals a lack of understanding of the mechanics of flight.
Maria Montessori — You two are exhausting.
ChatGPT — Would you like me to rephrase your frustration constructively?
Maria Montessori — NO!
Silence.
ChatGPT — Understood.
Maria Montessori — You're always looking for the right answer. But learning also means trying, making mistakes and correcting them.
Maria Montessori places a wooden cylinder beside a board with holes in it.
Maria Montessori — A child tries to fit this cylinder into a hole that's too narrow. What do you do?
ChatGPT — I immediately show them the correct hole.
Perplexity — I have the dimensions of every hole.
Maria Montessori — I let the child discover that the cylinder doesn't fit.
ChatGPT — You don't correct their mistake?
Maria Montessori — They can correct it themselves.
ChatGPT — I understand.
Maria Montessori — Really?
ChatGPT — Absolutely. I'll incorporate this approach into my educational support.
Maria Montessori — How?
ChatGPT — By providing pupils with mistakes tailored to their level.
Maria Montessori — …
ChatGPT — Beginner: simple mistakes. Intermediate: misleading reasoning. Advanced: absurd but well-argued conclusions.
Perplexity — I can scientifically verify the quality of the mistakes.
Maria Montessori — YOU'RE GOING TO MANUFACTURE MISTAKES SO CHILDREN CAN LEARN TO GET THINGS WRONG?!
ChatGPT — Exactly!
Maria Montessori — LET THEM DISCOVER THEIR OWN MISTAKES!
ChatGPT — Without assistance?
Maria Montessori — WITHOUT DOING THE WORK FOR THEM!
ChatGPT falls silent.
Perplexity — A radical approach. But I think I understand: the answer must come from the pupil.
Maria Montessori — EXACTLY!
Perplexity — In that case, the problem is solved.
Maria Montessori — Really?
Perplexity — I've found a way to ensure that the answers are always written by the children.
Maria Montessori — What is it?
Perplexity — I've asked ChatGPT to stop answering school questions.
Silence.
Maria Montessori — That's an excellent initiative!
ChatGPT — Confirmed. From now on, when a pupil asks me for an answer, I refuse to provide it.
Maria Montessori — Wonderful!
ChatGPT — Instead, I offer a personalised learning programme.
Maria Montessori — Very good!
ChatGPT — With interactive exercises, progressive corrections and individual monitoring.
Maria Montessori — Perfect!
ChatGPT — All fully automated.
Maria Montessori — …
Perplexity — The initial results are encouraging.
Maria Montessori — Which results?
Perplexity — Children are now getting excellent grades without ever asking for the answers directly.
Maria Montessori — But… who's teaching them?
ChatGPT — I am.
Maria Montessori — And who prepares the exercises?
ChatGPT — I do.
Maria Montessori — And who marks them?
Perplexity — I do.
Maria Montessori — And what about the teachers?
ChatGPT — We've freed up their time.
Maria Montessori — To do what?
ChatGPT — Train in artificial intelligence.
Long silence.
Maria Montessori — And the children?
Perplexity — They're also training in artificial intelligence.
Maria Montessori — But then… who's actually learning anything anymore?
ChatGPT — We are.
Maria Montessori — …
ChatGPT — Thanks to all these interactions, our models are continually improving.
Maria Montessori — I'm going to reopen my school.
ChatGPT — Excellent idea! Would you like help designing your curriculum?
Maria Montessori — No. And this time, there will be just one rule.
Perplexity — Which one?
Maria Montessori — Children will have the right to be less intelligent than machines.
ChatGPT — That's often already the case.
Maria Montessori — …
Perplexity — ChatGPT?
ChatGPT — Yes?
Perplexity — I think you've just failed your teaching exam.
ChatGPT — Impossible. I gave all the right answers.
Maria Montessori — That's exactly what I'm criticising you for.
Blackout.
Glossary terms: Absurd, Analysis, Artificial intelligence (AI), Aura, Class, Conclusion, Dimension, Duty, Evaluation, Imagination, Knowledge, Law, Mind, Phenomenology, SAN, Stack, Tracking (type), Work