AI is quickly taking over students’ education and the way students work. To students AI is their major support, what they rely on, how they complete their schoolwork. Research and natural
writing have all been replaced by AI. And while AI can also have its positives by helping students with ideas or examples, students have been taking too much advantage of it and
instead making it do their work.

This affects many students, especially the younger ones. What are they learning, and how are they using critical thinking and building up their knowledge? Teachers are concerned. Instead of learning the material themselves, some students are copying answers directly from AI, raising questions about whether students are truly learning anymore.

At Los Fresnos High School, teachers have started noticing the influence of AI in classrooms and the students. Journalism teacher Mr. Zamora has noticed a huge increase in AI work the last couple of years.

“It’s impacting my class a lot, especially a writing class because a lot of students have tried to turn in AI work,” Zamora said “In journalism, using AI to write stories is not allowed. It’s definitely been a challenge trying to identify if it’s AI or not, especially since a lot of students have tried to use it. I’ve seen a lot of AI in students’ writing and in a class that is writing based, it’s tough seeing students not use their creativity and critical thinking to write anymore.”

Teachers are worried that AI may discourage students from improving important skills such as critical thinking and writing. When students depend on technology to do their work, they may
miss the opportunity to actually practice and improve those skills. And we have seen this decrease since the rise of AI and how easy it actually is to use.
Mr. Zamora also expressed his concerns about how AI may affect learning in the long term and
the changes we might expect.

“A lot of students aren’t really learning anymore,” Zamora said. “It can be a great tool for learning about a topic, or for a quick Google search, but it becomes a problem when you’re not actually learning any of the content.”
Students themselves are noticing the change as well. Senior Camila Elizondo said she has seen many classmates rely heavily on AI when completing assignments.

“I have seen AI impacting students, some students don’t even read the assignment before copying and pasting it into AI,” Elizondo said. “They’ve given up on their own hard work and let AI take over their education.”
Although AI can be helpful for studying or explaining difficult topics, many teachers believe that it should be used carefully and If students rely on it too much, they may lose the opportunity to
develop their own knowledge and critical thinking.