June 15, 2025
Article
AI Is Turning One Classroom Into Two Different Worlds
Jada walks into English with a blank page and a tight chest. The essay prompt might as well be in another language. She opens an AI chatbot and types: “Write this for me.” Thirty seconds later, she has five tidy paragraphs. Relief. She turns it in.
Across the room, Mateo opens the same tool and types: “Ask me questions until I can build my own thesis. Don’t write the essay.” The bot pushes back: What do you actually believe? What evidence proves it? What would someone argue against you? Mateo writes, gets stuck, revises, checks his logic, and ends class with a messy draft, and a clearer mind.
Same AI. Same assignment. Two totally different outcomes.
That’s the part adults keep missing: AI doesn’t create a new “smart kid vs. dumb kid” divide. It widens the gap between students who use AI to think and students who use AI to hide.
Why the Gap Is Growing
AI is an amplifier. It multiplies whatever learning habits a student brings to it.
Students who use AI well treat it like a tutor:
they ask for hints, not answers
they attempt first, then compare reasoning
they use it for practice, feedback, and debugging
they make it quiz them and expose weak spots
That means more repetitions of real thinking—more planning, more explaining, more correcting. Over time, they start performing better on reasoning-heavy tasks that look like “higher IQ” skills: clearer logic, faster pattern recognition, better reading comprehension, stronger arguments.
Students who use AI poorly treat it like an answer machine:
they skip the struggle
they copy what sounds right
they stop noticing what they don’t know
they build dependence
Their work may look better for a while. But their thinking gets fewer reps. And skills don’t grow without reps.
The Trap: AI Makes It Easy to Look Competent
Here’s the dangerous magic trick AI performs in school:
The student turns in polished work.
Adults assume learning happened.
The student feels “caught up.”
But the brain didn’t practice.
It’s like showing up to the gym and watching someone else lift weights for you. Your body doesn’t get stronger just because the bar moved.
How to Use AI Without Losing Your Brain
One rule changes everything:
Attempt first. AI second.
Then use prompts that force you to think:
“Give me one hint. Don’t solve it.”
“Ask me questions until I find the thesis.”
“Here’s my attempt—find my first wrong step.”
“Quiz me with 10 problems like this, increasing difficulty.”
“Challenge my argument with the best counterpoint.”
That’s tutor-mode. That’s skill-building. That’s compounding growth.