- Credits:
- Photo, Helen’s Place LLC AI Generated. Rolling-Resistance: Remember Walt Whitman; question what you see and hear and don’t give in to worry or fear.
Helen’s Place LLC
As the use of AI increases some of it could be categorized as misuse. Teachers, for example are having a hell of a time preventing students from using AI to write their papers for them.
And yet, there are many self-directed students who are already using AI as tools to learn more than they would have without AI.
This is why the larger issue is not about writing papers; the issue is about developing independent thought in the age of AI, and why it’s important.
The students who use AI and learn nothing at all – move through life directed by outside influences and not themselves, which often leads to unhappiness.
Teachers Role
There are many ways to encourage students to learn using AI as tools, such as influencing them to pick their own topic of interest or give them choices to select from a range of topics to write about.
Teachers could require printouts of google searches, including answers to 10 questions formulated by the student, and then a paper which elaborates on their answers using their own voice to write it.
Including the source material would show the teacher that an effort had been made to use their own brain to interrogate a subject and then determine what the most important facts were.
Testing the Theory
In testing this theory, I asked Google AI the question:
“What can educators do in high school and college to prevent cheating with AI to write papers and obtain proof from a student that they are using their own brain power to learn?”
From Google AI came an essay on the subject including the following suggestion:
“A good teacher should be able to get students to kick off the thought process with their own thesis.”
Conclusion
The bottom line is that students in an AI world must have a more stable sense of who they are and where they’re headed in order to feel free and in charge of their life. Additionally, people will still have to get up in the morning and figure out navigating more choices in an increasingly complex society, regardless of having AI or not.
This is why a new education curriculum should promote people becoming their best selves by developing higher level thinking skills like intrinsic motivation, discernment, good moral character and the conviction that they are part of the greater American society.
Because in the end the value of AI has nothing to do with AI itself, but the character of the people using it.
Related audio/video recording:
Most Americans now see that social media and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are having a negative impact on the country, and are becoming more aware of its potential damaging effects on students and what to do about it and how to use AI as tools to improve AI literacy. The video is 45 minutes long, but worth a listen after getting through the introduction:
YouTube, Ed Heroes, “Preparing Classroom for AI Infused Future.”
Other related article you may be interested in:
Article expresses how difficult it is for schools to figure out whether or not AI is good for studentst:
National Public Radio, October 16, 2016, Lee V. Gaines, “Schools struggle to measure how much AI experiments are helping”
Article discusses the aspects of internal motivation and other character development to become an independent thinker:
Helen’s Place LLC, November 4, 2025, “Rolling-Resistance Part 2: Struggle for Intrinsic Motivation.”
Helen’s Place LLC is an information and educational materials company celebrating English Language Arts, Cognitive Science and the love of birds. It’s the maker of printed instructional, educational, and teaching materials for children and adults in the field of English Language Arts and Cognitive Science (Elacogn).
It considers itself a cog in the wheel of individuals, companies and organizations holding the line and fighting for the American ideal of freedom and justice for all.
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