Also written by William Greiving and Corrina Gapter
As the use of artificial intelligence increases and becomes more common in classrooms, people are beginning to become hesitant about not only students using it, but teachers as well. Lately, students have noticed some “weird” and robotic wording in their assignments, and even in graded assignments, raising questions like: “Are teachers using AI to make their assignments?” or “Are they using it to grade them?” While AI can be helpful if used correctly, others argue that its use exposes a double standard in schools, where students are discouraged and sometimes punished for using the same tools. Examples of these punishments could be getting an F, or getting written up on an assignment where a student used AI.
One student talked about one of his teachers, who is completely opposed to AI.
“No one uses AI in that class because we respect her and don’t want to get in trouble,” he said. “But it does feel strange when teachers say AI is cheating, and then some of them turn around and use it themselves.” Adding to this, he also said, “We shouldn’t be encouraged to avoid AI while being graded by it.”
Some students expressed that while they don’t mind teachers using AI in moderation, for things like brainstorming ideas or drafting slideshows, they do care about the teacher engagement.
“I think it’s fine as a starting point,” one student explained. “But it shouldn’t be the final decision, especially for grading. Teachers should still read our work and give their own feedback.”
Others claimed that some teachers rely heavily on AI, using it for creating every assignment or grading things without reading them. The reality is that these claims are not verified, but it shows how hypocritical some teachers are, and some students are losing their trust in their teachers. On top of this, teachers using AI to grade assignments could make them feel unappreciated, since they aren’t reading their assignments that took hard work.
Ethical and technical concerns have been raised, as some students noted how AI tools are not accurate and that AI detectors are not always right. “AI can flag real writing as fake,” a student said. “So relying on it too much is dangerous.” This is concerning because students who write their own stuff get marked as AI, affecting their studies and reputation as students.
“I understand teachers are busy,” one student said, “But when an assignment is obviously AI-generated, it feels like the class doesn’t matter.”
Although these concerns are genuine, it’s not likely that teachers will stop using AI anytime soon. A Gallup poll last year found that 60% of teachers used AI to help teach, with almost 30% using it weekly. While the poll also found that weekly usage saved roughly 6 hours of work a week, the problems it generates among students may be too great of a cost to ignore.
AI usage will continue to grow over the next few years and start to be used in many aspects of our lives, but we need to be ethical regarding the use of AI.
One final note that a student made was, “AI isn’t going away, but if we’re expected to learn without leaning on it, teachers should meet us halfway.”
