FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2023
By Fabiha Khanam and Lalleyah Camara
As technology becomes increasingly more advanced, it is harder for educators to sustain an authentic method of teaching their students. ChatGPT is one of the newest and most advanced AI technologies, with the ability to answer virtually any question and even create an essay within seconds.
Professor Maria Khan at Bard High School Early College Queens explains, “AI is great for commercial writing, for instance, advertising and such, but as far as academic writing goes, AI is taking away the creativity of the human mind and is providing unimaginative, bland, and often simplistic writing.” According to Professor Khan, abusing AI for academic writing denies students the opportunity to develop intellectually, hindering brain development. “[O]riginal writing forces students to think and create for themselves which allows for new pathways to be created in the brain,” Khan says.
Professor Khan believes that with the increasing use of technology, humans are losing their own creativity and ability to think on the spot. To combat this, starting in February 2023, she has implemented writing workshops to help students practice articulating their own ideas and creative inspirations. Additionally, Khan plans on reverting to a class system based primarily on exams. “The past education system was mostly based on exams, which is something I will be reverting back to in the future.” She referred to a colleague of hers, Ezra Nielsen, who has already implemented in-class writing exams and is pleased with the results.
Aysheh Manaei, a High School English Language and Literature Teacher, also provided some insight into the use of AI in academic writing. “Honestly, I've seen a change in the writing of many of my students, which I accredited to my teaching at first. However, I still feel like it is too perfect, considering how many of them started,” says Manaei. She expressed the concern that students have become too reliant on different tools which may not always be available to them. To tackle this concern, Manaei reserves as much time as possible for in-class writing. She also has her students do writing at home, which is much easier and compatible with her curriculum.
Manaei continued on to hypothesize about the potential consequences of such programs: “I think that the use of AI will be worse in the future, only because I know technology is one of those fields that [is] always growing.”