The AI Dilemma In Education For Black Students

As a new school year begins, some educators are taking a decidedly low-tech approach to combat a high-tech problem. Chicago high school English teacher Jordan Clayton-Taylor, for instance, is making her students write essays with pen and paper. This is a direct response to students using AI chatbots like ChatGPT to generate their work, a shortcut she fears is eroding their fundamental ability to think for themselves.

While AI has been praised as a potential game-changer for Black students—offering personalized learning and leveling the educational playing field—there's a growing concern that it could be more of a hindrance. The core of the debate centers on whether these tools support learning or simply undermine critical thinking, originality, and knowledge retention.

The Double-Edged Sword of AI in Education

The promise of AI in education is significant. It's often presented as a low-cost solution to tackle learning loss and bridge the gap between underfunded schools and their more affluent counterparts. However, this potential is shadowed by its propensity for built-in bias and its impact on student engagement. As more young teens turn to ChatGPT for schoolwork, educators are scrambling to adapt to a new reality where answers are just a query away.

“It definitely does impact students’ critical thinking skills,” Clayton-Taylor states. “They’re not able to think on their own. The purpose of English is for you to be able to formulate your own idea.”

AI's Impact on Critical Thinking and Originality

Recent research supports these concerns. A study from MIT found that individuals who used ChatGPT to write an SAT essay showed lower brain engagement. The resulting essays were also found to be bland and lacking in originality, mirroring the output of the AI itself.

However, Devery Rodgers, who teaches educational technology at California State University, points out that new technologies are often met with similar fears. She argues that what truly matters is how the technology is applied. “There is a way to learn and do good with it, just like there’s a way to learn and do evil with it,” Rodgers says. She urges teachers to engage with AI and guide their students toward becoming responsible digital citizens rather than ignoring the technology.

Navigating Bias and Building Digital Citizenship

Beyond critical thinking, AI models carry inherent biases. Concerns over so-called “woke AI” have even prompted a federal executive order. Rodgers advises teachers to understand and account for these biases when using generative AI to personalize learning. Despite these challenges, and with about a quarter of U.S. teachers believing AI does more harm than good, some educators feel a responsibility to teach its proper use.

Clayton-Taylor agrees, saying she must teach her students to use it as a tool. She has observed that when students rely too heavily on AI, they lose confidence in their own writing abilities. This, she believes, is particularly damaging for Black students.

Chatbots do a disservice to Black students in particular.

“The idea of perfection does not look like us,” Clayton-Taylor explains. “It does not sound like us. It limits us. I’m very strong on instilling in our kids like you are perfect the way you are. You just have to believe in yourself.”

The Classroom Response to AI Tools

In response, teachers are developing new strategies. In Shannon Singleton’s high school classroom in Northwest Indiana, students will still use Chromebooks, but their activity will be monitored with software like GoGuardian to prevent cheating.

“Now that there’s AI, they can just put the essay prompt in it and it spits it out,” Singleton says. “I think having kids write at home isn’t going to be as successful as it has been in the past. The biggest thing is teaching kids that it’s not about the grade, but it’s about wanting to learn.”