AI Use and Student Agency

At the beginning of each semester, in each of my classes, I paint a picture for my students. Here’s the essence:

Students, Thanks to AI, the world is quickly dividing into two groups: the “haves” and the “have-nots”.

The “haves” were careful to develop their critical thinking skills. They learned to do a thing (art, music, financial analysis, writing) without offloading their thinking to AI. Now, because they have strong critical thinking skills and aptitude in their domain, they are perfectly suited to AUGMENT their work with AI. These creative, critical thinkers will be the only ones marketable to any kind of professional job.

The “have-nots” just offloaded their thinking to AI. They had AI write their papers. They took screenshots of their quizzes and had AI answer the questions. Their thinking has atrophied, and their creativity and problem-solving are almost zero. They are not suited for any kind of professional job.

If you are in the second group, you need to understand that critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, are HABITS developed over years of struggle and effort. You can’t decide to suddenly become a better thinker after years of cognitive offloading. It takes way more time and effort to course correct in adulthood.

So here’s the deal, if you use AI in my classes, I can’t prove it. I mean, I can mark it down if it looks like slop, but you and I both know I can’t prove anything.

So it’s up to you to make a choice. You are welcome to spend tens of thousands of dollars over the next four years to earn a useless degree and have nothing to offer in an AI-driven world. Nobody is going to pay you to write basic prompts and hand the output to your boss.

Or. You can learn to do a thing well and later learn to use AI to augment your work.

This bounces hard off some students, but that’s on them.

Other students, however, tell me that they have sworn off abdicating their thinking to AI, to ensure that they get the most out of their education.

Students must understand the choice they have to make here, but it’s up to us teachers to understand the times and present their options clearly.