The Mix 2025: AI and Education

By Zeynep Oralkan(Green Hope High School) Itzel Rubio-Mendiola (North Carolina School of Science and Math) and Khamaria Wolfe (North Edgecombe High School)

Generative artificial intelligence is having an increasing effect on education – from students and teachers in high school to college admissions offices across the country.

Students interviewed on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus said they use the technology as a source of inspiration, to give them a start on their assignments or to check over their grammar and help with finishing touches. Teachers, on the other hand, are concerned when students use AI as a substitute for thinking.

Students have their say

Teachers say AI is a tool, not a brain

Students are using more AI in their school work, whether it is for editing or to do their assignments, and teachers can tell.

Kathleen Holland, AP language and composition teacher from Green Hope High School, discussed the impact of AI on her students. 

“In using AI for writing, we’re losing our own voices and a higher quality/more sophisticated style of writing,” Holland said. “It has become much easier to identify students who aren’t writing their own papers because the AI style is so stilted and weirdly worded, very generic, and not at all the way a student who was physically writing something would sound.”

AI’s quality of writing hasn’t reached the level that most advanced English teachers would consider “sophisticated,” but it could reach that level in a short amount of time, Holland explained. Some teachers are concerned that AI is taking away students’ critical thinking skills and making them dependent on the technology.

Taivonya Pittman, an economics and finance teacher at North Edgecombe High School, has a similar opinion. 

“Student use of Artificial Intelligence is only beneficial when it expands the thinking process, not when it becomes the thinking process,” Pittman said. 

Admissions officers turn to AI systems to streamline

College admissions officers are beginning to utilize AI for their admissions process. According to a study from 2023, conducted by Intelligent, 50% of Admissions Officers in Higher Education use AI.

This study is no surprise to UNC students. In January, The Daily Tar Heel reported on UNC’s use of AI in the college admissions process. They found that the admissions office uses AI when reviewing common application essays.

According to the university’s website, admissions officers use an AI program to assess writing style and grammar to allow the team to focus on the essay content and application.

When Antonia Vital, 17, an upcoming applicant from Tarboro was informed of UNC’s use of AI, she said she had no idea they utilized the technology. However, despite not having a clear stance, she believes it could help admissions officers.

 “I feel like that would definitely streamline the process.,” Vital said. “I feel like it would narrow it down.”