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When Grades Matter More Than Learning, AI Wins
Students have been trained to avoid the risk of failure at all costs
I know a lot about how to get good grades. First of all, throughout all my school years, I consistently made the Honor Roll. It wasn’t easy, but it was most certainly simple: do your homework, pay attention in class, make sure the teacher thinks you are interested in what they are saying, and get very good at taking tests.
I was informed that getting good grades was essential because it would keep me out of trouble with my parents, give me access to scholarships and good schools, and perhaps even a good job, or so the narrative went.
This is just an example of how, for students, grades become the salary they earn for doing the job of school. Those who don’t perform up to the standards can expect a meager reward, and they are told this will bring them severe consequences in the future.
Therefore, some students cheat and plagiarize, and, as is the fashion nowadays, use AI to try to get those good grades that are the talk of the town. In the process, learning becomes a secondary objective that one pursues only if there’s time and energy left for it.
Grades have become The Goal, learning be damned.
