There is a modern plague infecting not only our school but nearly the whole world.
Now, don’t go running for your face masks and hand sanitizer—this plague isn’t any type of infection.
Instead, it takes the form of accessible websites that get work done WAY faster for WAY less effort: AI.
It has crept its way into society, integrating itself into our everyday lives.
While it is undoubtedly a useful tool for strengthening one’s work, it is becoming a more heavily normalized option in many classrooms.
The effects are detrimental and only getting worse.
The use of AI in classrooms, if at all, should be an occasional tool to help touch up work or brainstorm ideas.
When it becomes something one leans on altogether, the point of schooling vanishes completely.
It erases the core of what school is all about: making mistakes and taking time to develop your skills through messy, imperfect work.
Imperfections during the learning process result in better, long-lasting learning.
This dangerous habit doesn’t only go for students; in fact, teachers are just as guilty.
When a teacher uses AI to craft their entire lecture and grade papers, which is becoming increasingly common, it is not beneficial for any student’s learning, nor is it fair.
Using AI to grade papers erases the whole point of a teacher’s existence: to give personalized, human feedback to better one’s writing or work.
Of course, AI may be helpful to catch small mistakes a human might disregard, but when a teacher relies completely on the artificial grading, their job’s entire purpose is destroyed.
What makes AI so alarmingly dangerous compared to other problems in our society is the rapid rate at which it is developing, how easily accessible it is to anyone with internet access, and how incredibly normalized it has become.
We as a society are choosing simple convenience over important skill development, and the fact that our younger generations will be able to rely on AI for their whole lives is harmful for their brain development.
This plague isn’t only affecting our brains—it’s also leaving a mark on our environment, as the use of AI requires a lot of energy and water consumption, adding to carbon emissions.
Many people turn a blind eye to these devastating consequences in favor of AI’s addictive convenience and popularity.
So what do we do about it? With its popularity, to many it seems hopeless to even try to fight it. It’s easier to just fall back into the handy sea of AI.
But this is not meant to worry you into a hopeless doom spiral about the fate of the human race. There are small steps we can take— and when enough people take these small steps, it results in wider success.
The first step is signing one of many petitions calling for erasing AI from classrooms.
School is for developing skills and problem-solving, not for seeking the easiest, most convenient/lazy way to quickly get a good grade.
So, next time you’re struggling to write an essay, although it may be tempting to reach for ChatGPT (especially in a world becoming increasingly dependent upon it), I urge you to try exercising your brain without any artificial aid.
