Parents divided over AI in school

Parents are sounding the alarm over the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in schools, warning that the technology could turn cheating into child’s play.

But while some believe banning AI is pointless in a world where it is only a tap away, others fear students are using it to do the work for them and walk away with grades they did not earn.

Stacy Reid has watched her daughter turn to ChatGPT when she gets stuck on a lesson or needs examples to help her understand a difficult concept.

“I’ve seen her use it to help organise her thoughts before she starts writing, too,” she said. “I thought she was putting her homework in there and getting the answers.”

But what initially worried Reid eventually changed her view.

“If you tell it, ‘Write my SBA for me’, and you copy and paste that, obviously I have a problem with that. But if you say, ‘Explain photosynthesis to me in a simpler way’, how is that much different from asking a tutor?” she reasoned.

For Reid, the line between help and cheating comes down to who is doing the thinking.

“The work you submit must still be yours. If I ask you what something in your SBA means and you can’t explain it, then clearly something is wrong.”

But Jason, another parent, sees a much bigger problem.

He fears some students are handing over the hard work to AI and collecting grades for work they did not actually do.

“At that point, what exactly are we grading?” he questioned.

For him, the issue is not simply technology. It is fairness.

“Imagine my child staying up until midnight researching and another student types a question into a computer and gets the same or a better grade.”

Yet Jason does not blame AI for creating the problem.

“Let’s be truthful. There are SBAs that parents practically do. There are tutors who give too much assistance. AI didn’t create the problem, but it has made it much easier.”

What has changed, he said, is the speed and accessibility of outside help.

“The speed and access make it different. Not every child can afford a tutor, but almost every child with Internet access can get to one of these AI tools.”

That accessibility has intensified the debate over whether students should be required to complete more controlled assessments so examiners can be certain the work being marked is genuinely theirs.

But Jason is not convinced that simply replacing SBAs with examinations is the answer.

“My own child can know something at home and freeze in an examination. That’s where I become conflicted,” Jason said.

Instead, he believes schools could draw a bright line around what students can and cannot use AI for.

“Maybe the rules could allow certain things, like explanations or brainstorming, but prohibit generating the actual assignment,” he suggested.

Reid has another idea.

Rather than focusing only on the final SBA, she believes teachers could pay closer attention to how students get there.

She suggested students could submit portions of their work as they progress and later be required to explain or defend what they produced.

“If you did the research, you should be able to sit down and explain what you found,” she said.