Are we surprised that AI has a grasp in Education?

AI as a crutch in education is not unexpected. Throughout my K-12 and undergraduate career, I've come to understand that (American) society, or at least the students around me, do not like.............. School. Academics. A large majority of them do not enjoy participating in it, and a lot of them are also very... unconfident (maybe in themselves or the education system itself). I won't comment about graduate school because I was severely anti-social and did not make friends nor did I have much conversation with any physical person in or out of class (#pcgamer).

My high school had a student ranking system and I was valedictorian. Rumours circulated about how some students were upset and felt inferior (or insecure) because of the existence of a ranking system; others felt that its existence was okay because it celebrated the efforts of the top ranking students. (I didn't really care because I just wanted to play League of Legends at the end of the day.) Because of my "work ethic", I usually resided in the "smart" kids classrooms (accelerated classes, AP classes, etc.), but I quote "smart" because by definition of the ranking system, I was the "smartest" in the school. However, I definitely could not feel any farther from that. I don't feel smart and I don't think I'm smart and I most definitely am NOT smart. Not smart in the way that they think I am.

I was graced with a lot of free time to walk around the classroom because the lessons (if they ended early) and in-class assignments could not keep me occupied for the entire class period, so I would talk with the other students and was able to gauge where they stood in terms of the class contents through discussion and helping them out.

People not being good at math has never made any sense to me. My strongest subject is mathematics (my weaker subject being language arts (is this a pattern?)), so when the teacher goes through a lesson and gives us examples and finally hands us an assignment to handle by ourselves, I'm confused on why other students would not be able to solve it themselves. When I get to talking to them, it's usually foundational information that I consider basic that they didn't absorb or paid attention to. So, I help them (if they ask for it): 1. By showing them my assignment and letting them copy (learning by exposure and experience), or 2. By asking them questions that lead them to the answer (learning by application with guidance).

Most prefer 1. I think it's because they don't actually care about the content and would rather finish the assignment correctly so as to get a good grade. I don't mind and I don't care for their motivations since it is their choice. In the case of 2., they usually have trouble making the connections themselves. They think I am smart because I never ask for help and always get good grades. But, I only get good grades because I studied all the time. No talent here, just fear and diligence #poc.

In college, the students there are more like me: "academically motivated" (I quote this because it was more of an obligation than an intrinsic desire). This distinction is important to make, because for a(n American) society whose students are academically unmotivated from K-12, it is more understandable why so many kids use AI for help and thinking when they don't want to do academics in the first place. In college, a larger portion are there because they want to be there (or are forced by their parents but are also academically motivated enough to succeed unlike K-12 students who are forced by their parents but do not have to be academically motivated).

In the same way that being valedictorian (or top 20) in high school does not make me a smart person, a college degree does not mean you are smart either, and I don't mean STEM v. liberal arts. I mean, everything. My god: the engineering students could not be more obnoxious or be more insecure about grades. At the end of the day, most are worried about grades to a concerning and pitiful degree, which I don't blame them because I felt similarly but with more reservation (because subscribing to that despair isn't something I can afford -- literally. #loans). So, there's a bit more academic motivation and integrity in college. But, if one can get an edge, they will take it; otherwise, they'll do their best, which I believe they are as opposed to K-12 (hence, the academic motivation v. lack thereof).

The AI chatbot became a larger part of my life during graduate school, so I already missed how much it could have influenced the student body during undergrad, which I believe is a more significant sample among (American) society, so I will stop anecdoting here.

So, we have a large number of academically unmotivated students in K-12 who already don't want to be physically present at school, so why would they do the work, and a student body in college who are desperate to pass with sufficient GPAs for their degree or medical pathway or something idk (I had to get like a 3.4 minimum GPA to switch from an Applied Mathematics major to an Electrical and Computer Engineering major, which was lowkey kinda hard). Both groups which more-or-less feel "forced" to obtain high grades in spite of how they feel about it and whether they're actually learning the material. Consequently, I am not surprised that a large number of them are using AI as a crutch in education.

Okay, back to anecdoting. What about me? Why didn't I subscribe to AI chatbots for help initially? Like Alysa Liu said, "I love struggling, actually". I won't vilify people who use AI to pass classes. I understand that they want to do their best but they also have to consider the fucking tuition that they're paying for, and a lot of the times (especially in grad school), the course can be a load of bulllllllshittttt (see ratemyprofessors or bruinwalk for UCLA-ers). Personally, I used ChatGPT ONCE because one of my courses required me to use Unity to create a working program in VR on the Oculus Rift and I have never worked with Unity or VR before in my life. We had weekly fucking deadlines and I was not going to stress myself out even more by learning how to code in C# from base (I know C++, Python, etc. but I wasn't trying to sweat the tiny details like formatting) while balancing my other insane grad courses. I was staying in the labs for like 5 hours after classes because the rest of my project members were also busy as fuck, so yeah it was hectic and depressing and my tuition was lowkey $100k (YES, $100,000+) so I was NOT going to fucking fail because I was too obstinate to use a guiding machine that was already present and available. Otherwise, fuck AI (in points that we've all probably heard before: environmental racism, pollution (e.g., noise, air, water), climate change, stealing from people (e.g., generative AI), the fact that it's being pushed heavily by Corporations (SURVEILLANCE), job replacement, etc.).

The true enemy is relying on AI (even outside of academics). Maybe it is the universal availability of AI that people just mindlessly subscribe to it (but to seek it out themselves? Erm...). I don't think much of normal people. I think the quiet mind of the neurotypical is why they feel hopeless to someone like me. Do they seem brainless? It's odd, isn't it. Making a list, researching a question, even reading an article. Are people lazy?

okay im sorry i've been typing this for like two hours im so sleepy and tired it's 2am i'm giving up on re-reading and re-writing. sorry for anything that's too aggressive or speaks really negatively about people. sorry for any inconsistency. i don't mean to do that. ummmmmmmmmmm be lovely, be kind, boycott AI, and stand up for something in your lives!!!!

7 May 2026 (2:01 AM)