* This is my second installment of two in my “Learning to Learn” series for the return to school.
“Character is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching,” a quote that has been attributed to multiple sources, some of biblical origins. If we could all adhere to this commandment, I believe that the world would be a much better place. Unfortunately, though, the world is filled with temptations, so straying from the “right thing” is often far too easy. Knowing what the “right thing” is can be confusing too because, depending on the source, we may receive conflicting directions. Every issue today seems polarizing.
As parents, we struggle with knowing what is the right thing to do as we raise our children. We are pushed more than ever before to ensure the happiness of our children. Accordingly, we enable them at times, become their friends rather than their mentors, and even sacrifice our own values due to societal pressures. We are inclined to feel sorry for our children, who, as products of the pandemic, have had a difficult educational journey. No doubt, our high school children face uncertain futures in many ways, and their pressures may seem to be mounting (or possibly their resilience is underdeveloped). Naturally, we want to make their paths easier. But at what costs?
Our children are watching us closely and taking notes based on our lead, so we must step up and take responsibility, modeling the values that we hold dear. And this year will be a particularly critical year for such modeling, in my estimation. During this academic year, most high school students will be aware of the opportunity to cheat on almost every single school assignment by accessing ChatGPT or similar alternatives, and our children might not perceive doing so to be “cheating.”
The web is flooded with articles that convince parents and students that knowing how to leverage AI (a technical misnomer for these services but a readily-accepted label) is essential to optimizing learning. I disagree when it comes to high school students. Most high school students are too immature to be able to distinguish between acceptable uses of AI and unethical uses of AI, and the slope is ever so slippery.
High school students are using these platforms to solve math problems, to translate foreign language passages, to answer short answer questions, and to write term papers. They are using AI platforms to develop creative project ideas and to respond to take-home exams. They are using them to write college essays, too. The dangers of using AI in high school are monumental. Our students are developing a reliance on these AI tools, much as we have developed a reliance on Waze for directions or on Google for general daily information retrieval. In the process, our high school students are sacrificing a solid educational foundation for short-term results and are misrepresenting their abilities. They are simultaneously eroding their own self-confidence and motivation to learn. They are demonstrating a complete lack of character in order to secure higher grades, and they are doing so, often blatantly, because they believe that what they are doing is acceptable.
AI detectors are still under development, and teachers are overextended and unlikely to catch transgressors. Any teacher who is willing and able to spend the time trying to subvert students’ misuse of AI, though, could likely do so. The discrepancy between the work produced by AI and the general high schooler’s understanding of concepts is usually significant. However, the educational system is overtaxed, so the burden of ensuring that students “do what is right” must fall on the shoulders of those with the most to lose: the parents.
Now is the time to have open discussions about these platforms at the dinner table. Now is the time to read your children’s essays. Now is the time to make ever so clear our expectations for our children. Right now, our high school students must learn how to learn. If they bypass this crucial skill development, they will likely fail to launch.
I’m still clinging to the belief that cheaters never win. These students will likely be “caught” eventually. If our students never learn to think creatively, to write proficiently, and to apply critical reasoning skills – all independently – then, they will lose self-respect and character, and they will lose genuine access to higher education.