I sat down earlier this week to write a blog post about the start of the academic year. While this is an annual exercise, a new thought popped into my head this time around as I was considering how to begin my blog post. What would the popular artificial intelligence tool, ChatGPT, have to say on this topic?

I thought it might be interesting to ask the artificial sage for examples of “great beginnings.” I was curious to see if there were examples that I could reference of people that had, in spite of a host of obstacles, enjoyed what would be considered a great start (to anything)!

In my first attempt at prompting ChatGPT, I was served up great starts in literature. Now, I was not expecting that! The first two offerings were, “Once upon a time...” and “In a galaxy far, far away...” Absolute classics, I think most would agree. But not what I was looking for. Other attempts to capture the first day at (or, back at) TCS continued to miss the mark.

The reality of my search was, of course, that this AI tool was not delivering anything personal. Which is both the point of my blog and one of the key tenants of our approach to education at TCS. Being personal. Being present. Caring more. In short, we don’t take short cuts at TCS.

Your kids have probably been taking many “short cuts” their whole life, physically and mentally – I know that I did as a kid. They will be tempted to take short cuts academically too, with powerful resources, like ChatGPT, at their disposal.

As information and communication tools, smartphones, computers and artificial intelligence have improved our lives immensely. Yet, in other ways they have hindered. The irony of having more means to communicate with people, but communicating less substance, is a serious issue in the world today and this is particularly troubling when we consider the impacts on young people.

As we start this new academic year, let us (parents, kids, staff) keep it personal. Let’s stay in touch.

Rest assured, as your children start a new journey at the start of this new academic year, they are surrounded by caring adults and similarly motivated kids searching for purpose and being active in this pursuit. Our faculty and staff love working with kids and believe that TCS has the potential to be a positive, transformational experience for each and every child.

Artificial intelligence can’t do that for you. Only people can.

Moms, dads and guardians: we are here for you. We are in your corner!

Let’s have a great beginning to what is sure to be an exciting academic year!