Screens, AI, and Grade Inflation Are Hollowing Out High School Education in the US
As the repercussions of the decision by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)—the second-largest school district in the US—to limit students' screen time in school and for homework continue, a new report published by the Fordham Institute has revealed the impact of technology in schools. The survey study, titled "High Tech, Low Standards: High School in the Age of Distraction" and conducted with a total of 1,011 high school students and 1,013 recent graduates, revealed that screen addiction, AI misuse, and grade inflation have fundamentally shaken the high school experience.
One of the most striking findings of the research was the extent of unauthorized technology use during school hours. 76 percent of students admitted to committing rule violations on a daily basis during class, such as scrolling through social media, messaging, or shopping online. In addition, 62 percent of students stated that they spent more than half of their class time looking at the screens of devices provided by the schools, such as laptops or tablets.
The report highlighted that artificial intelligence is used by a large portion of students not to support learning, but rather to completely "bypass" academic processes and to cheat. 36 percent of the participants stated that they had AI summarize long texts to avoid reading them, 29 percent had AI write the first drafts of their assignments, and 26 percent received help from AI during exams.
Education experts are calling on schools to immediately reduce screen time, return to more paper-and-pencil-focused proctored exams, tighten grading standards, and uncompromisingly enforce cell phone bans in order to improve the current situation.