If Students Can’t Use AI To Do Their Homework, Can Admin Do It?

by Joshua Gibbs

Is using AI to do your homework a privilege of adulthood, sort of like drinking and smoking?

Teacher: We need to talk about your last essay.  

Student: Sure. What’s up? 

Teacher: You used AI to write this, didn’t you? 

Student: No more so than this school uses AI to write things.  

Teacher: What’s that supposed to mean? 

Student: Oh, just that I’ve noticed the front office has started using AI to write the weekly parent newsletter. The headmaster is using AI to write job postings and emails to parents about changes to the dress code. The communications director is using AI to write social media posts. I’m pretty sure I took a calculus test last week that was AI generated. I’m just following your lead.  

Teacher: How did you know all that? 

Student: Well, the weekly parent newsletter has lately become grammatically precise, vocab rich, and even more generic and milquetoast than usual. That’s how teachers recognize AI use in student work, right? 

Teacher: Uh, yes.  

Student: What’s good for the goose, you know? 

Teacher: It’s different when adults use AI, though.  

Student: I know. They’re shameless!  

 Teacher: No, I mean it’s functionally different. It’s morally different, too.  

Student: Care to explain? 

Teacher: You’re young. You’re still learning how to think.   

Student: So, you’re saying the headmaster already knows how to think. 

Teacher: Yes.  

Student: And the communications director already knows how to think? 

Teacher: Yes.  

Student: And the calculus teacher? 

Teacher: Yes.  

Student: I agree. People who know how to think use AI. I’m one of them.  

Teacher: Wrong. That’s different. They already know how to think, but you’re still learning.   

Student: If they know how to think, why do they need ChatGPT to do their homework? 

Teacher: To save time. For convenience.  

Student: But I’m using it for my convenience, too. You know I can write a good essay. I wrote you a great essay on Frankenstein last year, didn’t I? 

Teacher: Yes, you did.  

Student: See? Besides, you teach me how to think in class. If students could learn how to think by writing an essay on their own, they wouldn’t need to come to this school.  

Teacher: You need practice, though.  

Student: So, if I don’t get practice at thinking, I’ll forget how? 

Teacher: Yes. You won’t develop as a thinker. 

Student: Then the headmaster needs practice thinking, too, right? He's always talking about the importance of being “a lifelong learner,” even when you’re in your fifties and sixties. If he’s using AI, he’s not going to develop as a thinker. If what you’re saying about students using AI is true, adults who use AI have given up on being lifelong learners.  

Teacher: Look, AI use requires wisdom. And it requires discernment. Everyone at this school who is using AI in their work is using wisdom and critical-thinking skills to edit and refine the results that AI gives them.  

Student: To edit the results how? 

Teacher: To make sure that the AI generated texts are accurate. 

Student: Eh, that’s no different from a student who double checks that he hasn’t copied and pasted a footnote or hyperlink from a Wikipedia article into his plagiarized thesis work. That’s not wisdom. That’s just covering your butt.  

Teacher: See, that’s another thing! Students lack the wisdom to know how obvious it is that they’ve copied and pasted a Wikipedia article.   

Student: When this conversation started, I mentioned all the ways admin at this school use AI and you asked, “How did you know that?” 

Teacher: So? 

Student: You and your “critical-thinking skills” can’t tell how obvious it is that you’re not writing the stuff you’re putting out.  

Teacher: I don’t like your tone.  

Student: Is it not generic and milquetoast enough? 

Teacher: If you really didn’t think there was anything wrong with using AI, why didn’t you cite it? 

Student: For the same reason the headmaster isn’t citing his use of AI. It would make him look lazy and incompetent.  

Teacher: So, actually, in terms of style, I think it might look weird if— 

Student: Honestly, I used AI on my last essay because I thought this school had an unpublished don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy on AI.  

Teacher: What do you mean? 

Student: Well, this school has to take a formal, public stand against students using AI in order to maintain its image as a legitimate learning institution. The admin doesn’t actually think using AI is wrong, though. It’s sort of like during COVID when all the students and teachers had to wear masks, but admin never wore masks when making pitches to potential donors.  

Teacher: Look, that was... Look... Look, there are some things that adults get to do that kids don’t. That’s not hard to understand. Adults get to drink and smoke. The fact that adults drink doesn’t mean kids should drink, does it? 

Student: Are you serious? You really think of using AI to do your homework as the mature stuff of adulthood? Up there with drinking and smoking? “All the gentlemen are going to retire to the lounge for whiskey, Montecristos, and AI-generated newsletters.” That’s perfectly absurd.  

Teacher: Don’t you think wisdom and discretion come into the picture somewhere? Wouldn’t you agree that there are some things adults can be trusted with that children can’t be trusted with?   

Student: Whenever administrators obliquely reference—and excuse—their own use of AI to generate content, they always use that “wisdom and discretion” line. They say things like, “As with any tool, wise and deliberate use of AI has its place.” They never say what this place is, though.   

Teacher: Should they have to? 

Student: Do you know why they never say what that place is? 

Teacher: Well, I’d like to hear what you think it is.  

Student: When an administrator says, “As with any tool, wise and deliberate use of AI has its place,” it sounds as if they’re occasionally using AI very carefully and only in trace amounts. “Wise and deliberate use of AI” suggests the headmaster is dispensing AI generated content from an eye dropper filled with some potent drug. 

Teacher: What’s wrong with that? 

Student: It’s not true! That’s not how AI generated content is used. You get AI to write your entire newsletter. You get AI to compose the entirety of a delicate announcement to parents about expensive changes being made to the school dress code. You get AI to rewrite a dozen pages of your faculty handbook. That’s not “wise and deliberate use.” That’s pressure washing the broad side of a barn and then pretending like you went over it with a toothbrush. Many of the people in academia who quietly or secretly use AI are anxiously waiting for AI-usage to be destigmatized. In the meantime, they’re focusing on fighting student use of AI, speaking vaguely about their own usage, and hoping no one asks.  

Teacher: You speak with an awful lot of confidence. Would you mind telling me how you know all this? 

Student: Easy. I asked ChatGPT to tell me about trends in AI usage at academic institutions.