Jack Tame: What skills should we actually be teaching?

I still remember the exact seat where I was sitting.   

It was 20 years ago, and I was primed for one of the key exams in my tertiary education. I’d passed Teeline shorthand at 40 words a minute. 50 words, 60 words, 70 words. To progress on my journalism course and ultimately earn a degree I had one final challenge: I had to pass a Teeline shorthand exam at 80 words a minute.  

We learnt Teeline from a wonderful tutor, a woman named Julie with exacting standards, a wicked sense of humour, and a way with words. She’d peer over your shoulder when you were tracing out different characters.  

“That’s a squitty-looking outline,” she’d say with a wry smile. 

The moment I realised I’d passed 80 words a minute, I walked up to the front of the class and kissed her on the cheek. It took five months of work with daily lessons. I drilled myself with cassette tapes at home. But in a stuffy room on Madras Street, finally, I’d done it. 

But here’s the crazy thing. That was the very last time I seriously used Teeline shorthand. That’s no reflection on Julie. She was an amazing tutor, and shorthand skills had been fundamental for journalists for however-many decades. But back in 2005, what no one had apparently stopped to consider was whether those skills would be necessary in a world on the cusp on smart phones. What’s the point in trying to keep up with shorthand when your phone can record a verbatim interview and even transcribe it in real time? 

Since our son was born, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about my shorthand experience in the context of AI. And I kept returning to a fundamental question: what skills and knowledge should we actually be teaching our kids?  

In the UK, surveys have suggested that 90% of university students are using AI to help with assessments. I’m frankly surprised it’s not more. But educators around the world are trying to grapple with how to get around the likes of Chat GPT, Claude, and DeepSeek in assessing students’ learning. So far at least, technology which purports to scan students’ submissions for signs of AI is having mixed results at best. Many assessors are advocating for a complete return to in-person exams with hand-written essays. 

And yet in stewing over this, I couldn’t help but wonder if in some ways that misses the point. It’s like long division in the age of the calculator. Sure, it’s a nice-to-know. But be honest. Do you actually use it? How many of us actually need manual long division skills in the modern age? What’s the point in rote-learning historical dates when they are but a Google away? What’s the point in learning where to place a semicolon when you can always spell and grammar check your work? 

When it comes to AI, instead of trying to work around it, I wondered, are we not better just to fully embrace it and try to teach our kids how to maximise the utility of the technology?  

Ultimately, two points have given me reason to pause. First of all, it occurs to me that we’re not very good at foreseeing what skills will and won’t be relevant in the workplace of the future. It was only a few years ago that everyone was urging young people to drop everything and learn how to code. Now, coding jobs are among the first ones being gobbled up generative AI.  

And it’s easy in reflecting in my Teeline shorthand example to miss the even greater lesson. It’s true, Teeline skills haven’t been necessary or helpful in my almost-twenty years of journalism. But what has been helpful is the discipline that experience taught me. What has been helpful is the organisation skills, the accountability, the professionalism. In learning Teeline, I learnt shorthand. But more importantly, I learnt how to learn. 

Whether it’s through long division, historical essays or anything else... surely that is the skill should aspire to educate in our kids. 

See

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks at Me.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Do you know I still remember the exact seat in
which I was sitting. It was twenty years ago. It
was twenty years ago, which honestly makes me feel a
little bit sick in my mouth. But it was twenty
years ago, and I was primed for one of the
key exams in my tertiary education. I had passed tea

(00:34):
line shorthand at forty words a minute, at fifty words
a minute, at sixty words at seventy words a minute.
But to progress on my journalism course and ultimately earn
a degree, I had one final challenge. I had to
pass a tea line shorthand exam at eighty words a minute.

(00:56):
We learned tea line from a wonderful tutor, a woman
called Julie, with exacting standards, a wicked sense of humor,
and away with words. She would walk around the classroom
and peer over your shoulder when you were tracing out
different characters. That's a squitty looking outline, she'd say, with
a wry smile. The moment I realized I had passed

(01:18):
eighty words a minute, I walked up to the front
of the class and kissed her on the cheek. It
took five months of work, with daily lessons. Sometimes you'd
be doing three hours in class every day. I drilled
myself with cassette tapes at home, but in a stuffy
room on the Draft Street in central christ Church. Finally
had done it. But here's the crazy thing. That was

(01:42):
the very last time I seriously used tea line shorthand.
That's no reflection on Julie. She was an amazing tutor,
and shorthand skills had been fundamental for journalists for however
many decades. But back in two thousand and five, what
no one had apparently stopped to consider was whether those

(02:03):
skills would be necessary in a world on the cusp
of smart phones. What's the point in trying to keep
up with shorthand in an interview when your phone can
record a abateam interview and even transcribe it in real time.
Since our son was born four months ago, I've kind
of found myself thinking a lot about my shorthand experience

(02:23):
in the context of AI, and I keep kind of
returning to this fundamental question, what skills and knowledge should
we actually bother teaching our kids. In the UK, surveys
have suggested that about ninety percent of university students are
using AI to help with assessments. Frankly, I'm surprised it's

(02:45):
not more. But educators around the world are trying to
grapple with how to get around the likes of chat, GPT,
clawed and deep seek in assessing students learning. So far,
at least, technology which purports to scan students submissions for
signs of AI is having mixed results at best. Many
assesses are advocation for a complete return to in person

(03:08):
exams with handwritten essays. And yet in stewing over this, yeah,
I couldn't help, but wonder if in some ways that
misses the point. It's like long division in the age
of the calculator, right, Sure, it's a nice to know,
but be honest, do you actually use it? How many

(03:30):
of us actually need manual long division skills in the
modern age? And what's the point in wrote learning historical
dates when they are but a google away? What's the
point in learning where to place a semicolon when you
can always spell and grammar check your work when it
comes to AI instead of trying to work around it.

(03:52):
I have been wondering are we not just better to
fully embrace it and try and teach our kids how
to maximize the utility of the technology. Ultimately, though, two
points have given me reason to pause. First of all,
it occurs to me that we as humans are actually
not very good at foreseeing what skills will and won't

(04:13):
be relevant in the workplace of the future. I mean,
it was only a few years ago, right that everyone
was urging young people to drop everything and learn how
to code, and now coding jobs are among the first
ones being gobbled up by generitive artificial intelligence. And it's easy,
in reflecting in my tea line shorthand example, to miss

(04:35):
an even greater point. Yes, it's true t line skills
have not been necessary or helpful in my almost twenty
years of journalism. But what has been helpful is the
discipline that experience taught me. What has been helpful is
the organizational skill, is the accountability, the professionalism in learning

(05:00):
tea line shorthand. Yep, I learned shorthand, but more importantly,
I learned how to learn. And whether it's through long division,
historical essays, or anything else, surely that is the skill
that we should aspire to educate in our kids.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks at B from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio