BY SUMMER CRANDALL

Peers in the classroom jumping to different tabs on their Chromebooks as the teacher paces the room while they’re hiding screens afraid to be caught cheating. Then you think, “How did Timmy get an A+ on the writing assignment?”

Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, Grammarly, and QuillBot have quietly become part of many students’ main tools. What used to take hours of drafting and revising can now be done in minutes with the right prompt. For some, that’s a blessing. For others, especially teachers, it’s a growing concern.

According to a 2024 Pew Research Center survey, nearly 60% of U.S. teens say they’ve used AI tools for schoolwork. Of those, about one in five admitted to using it to complete an assignment without fully understanding the material. Teachers are noticing, too: a Study.com poll found that 72% of K–12 educators believe students are using AI to cheat.

Many teachers report that AI-written essays often sound too perfect grammatically flawless yet missing the student’s personality or perspective. Others however see potential benefits. Some classrooms are beginning to experiment with AI as a tool for brainstorming, generating outlines, or getting feedback on early drafts.

The real question might not be whether AI belongs in the classroom, but how it belongs. Should schools ban it completely, or teach students to use it responsibly? Experts like Dr. Ethan Mollick, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies AI in education, argue that AI literacy is the new digital literacy: “We need to teach students not to avoid AI, but to understand it.”

As students, it’s tempting to lean on technology especially when deadlines pile up. But the real skill isn’t typing a good prompt. It’s learning how to think, write, and express yourself in a way that no algorithm can replicate.

So the next time someone wonders how “Timmy” got that A+, maybe the better question is: Did he actually learn anything?