Microsoft is going to use Reflect to spot student with inadequate feelings | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft is going to use Reflect to spot student with inadequate feelings

unlocked.microsoft.com

20 pointsvinclav16 comments

The submitted title is editorialized, I don't see anything that suggests Microsoft is using AI or computer vision or anything to "determine" student's emotions. It sounds like the "monsters" are just a tool that kids can use to help identify and communicate their feelings better. The teacher can poll for an emotional check-in and the kids choose the response that expresses how they're currently feeling.

We do this in our kindergarten class with paper. The teacher checks in with kids who are having big feelings and works with them to identify the feelings on a multisensory activity. I don't think we need a digital mediator here as very young minds often don't differentiate the message from the medium.

this sounds really sweet. where did you learn this technique? do you have a related degree?

> Imagining Gen-E: A generation raised on emotional intelligence

> Image: A 'monster' saying "I feel valued today."

That's bad, not good. Feeling "valued" is teaching people to rely on others views of them, not their own internal views. If you're taught to take your value from others you're just being setup to be socially controlled. You can't have an unpopular opinion if you need to be valued by the group.

It's not, I think, that most of us think that emotions and the people having them are stupid, but that the things kids are being taught about emotion are counterproductive and will hurt them later.

Having a human check in is fine, but they shouldn't see their job as making everyone happy all the time. It should be in creating the most robust adults. We spend 99% of our lives away from teachers and babysitters so we need to know how to make our own happiness even in the presence of negativity and dislike or scorn of others.

You make a child stronger by letting them get hurt - but only a little, and suffer it alone - but only a little. In the end you have an adult who can be happy while they "fail" at tasks, or while receiving social pressure for unpopular ideas.

Given the decline of boys' performance in K-12 and -15% differential in college graduation compared to women, I wonder whether this method/tech will benefit boys at all or if it will continue to benefit mostly girls, doubling down on the pedagogy that has gotten us here.

Given that boys are frequently socialized to swallow their feelings rather than express them, I wonder if focusing on SEL for boys will help bridge the gap.

It will almost certainly harm boys. Thinking back to when I was in elementary school, most of the boys in my classes would have rolled their eyes and then made fun of this, then they would have gotten in trouble. Young boys need competition and activity to thrive, not cartoons

Except the ones that don't.

They can move into the meta-verse.

>Young boys need competition and activity to thrive, not cartoons

And girls don't?

Reflect will measure students' faces and tell the teacher that somebody is cheating and has to work in a different fields, let's say.

There's no mention of facial recognition or even webcam usage in the link. Yeah, it'd be gross if they were doing this, but... they aren't? It sounds like barely more than a chat app. What makes you think the app is using facial recognition?

I'm guessing the most intense feelings of hatred and anger will be represented by that Microsoft paperclip monster?

If there's a source that supports using words like "spot" (which implies CV in this context nowadays) and "inadequate" (which implies some dystopian thought policing) I'd love to read it. But the linked article is nothing like the title, so I gotta flag it!

It might be prudent to first test the efficacy of this technology within the confines of MSFT before implementing it in society at large. After all, cautious experimentation and refinement can lead to more successful and lasting outcomes in the long run.

Misleading title

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