[Insight & Opinion] Asking ChatGPT About Essential Human Competencies in the AI Era

There is no one who would dispute that the greatest resource South Korea possesses is its ‘people.’ And for nurturing people, education is the most important factor. Yet, over the past several decades, our education system has hardly changed from knowledge-based and exam-centered education. Although creativity education has been continuously emphasized, its implementation has been minimal.

In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), the traditional methods of education have reached their limits. The government claims to provide personalized education starting with Korean, mathematics, English, and information subjects by utilizing AI technology, but this is essentially an extension of knowledge education. The difference lies only in using AI technology to tailor knowledge education to individuals at different levels, and it remains far from genuine creativity education.

When asked what the most essential competency for humans in the AI era is, ChatGPT answered, as expected, ‘creativity.’ Then, from now on, education must properly foster creativity. To succeed in creativity education, where and how should we begin? An analysis of the reasons why creativity education has not been properly implemented despite decades of emphasis must precede.

The author believes there are three main reasons for the failure of creativity education. First, while there is a clear consensus that achieving high scores on the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) through knowledge education guarantees admission to good universities and thus good jobs, there is a lack of realistic consensus on why creativity must be cultivated. Second, teachers who lead creativity education do not know specifically how to conduct it, and there are almost no appropriate teaching materials. Third, there are no institutional mechanisms in place to implement creativity education.

The recent rapid spread of AI technology presents a golden opportunity to firmly establish social consensus on creativity education. Everyone now feels that it is difficult to navigate the AI era with knowledge alone, without creativity. We must leverage this social atmosphere as a fulcrum to seriously start creativity education.

The problems of lacking teaching materials for creativity education and not knowing how to proceed can be overcome. Existing education is bound by the constraint that teachers must teach something to students. This often leads to the obsession that creativity must also be taught by teachers. However, creativity is never something teachers unilaterally teach students. It is about creating an environment where students can draw out their inherent creativity and potential themselves. It involves giving them time and opportunities to think independently, ask questions, and explore.

For example, consider a poetry class during Korean language lessons. Traditional imitative knowledge classes involve reading, understanding, and memorizing poems written by others. Creativity classes involve writing one’s own poem, even if it is rough.

Even without institutional support for creativity education, it is important to start. It would be good to find clues to begin creativity education in the ‘zero period morning exercise’ spreading across elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide. Like zero period morning exercise, creativity education can be started without burden. For instance, recommending that teachers freely conduct creativity education for just 5 or 10 minutes at their discretion is one method.

Creativity education begins simply by posing open-ended questions that encourage thinking. Once everyone starts together, the beginning may be small, but the outcome can be great. That is the easiest and most certain way to move toward creativity education.

Kim Hyun-gon, Director of the National Assembly Future Institute