Interviewing Teachers in New York: AI in Education

When I interviewed my teachers about their opinions on AI in education, I expected to hear different opinions. However, what I did not expect was how hard it was to get responses in the first place. Of the 7 teachers that I reached out to, only 4 replied, despite multiple follow-ups.

This silence says a lot. AI remains a controversial topic in schools. Most teachers are unsure how to publicly discuss it, and many are reluctant to take a position at all. And yet avoiding these conversations doesn't make the technology disappear. Students everywhere are already using AI in their daily lives, whether schools acknowledge it or not. The real question shouldn't be if AI belongs in education, but how should schools correctly address it.

The most striking pattern that I noticed was the strong divide between my humanities and STEM teachers.

My humanities teachers were generally skeptical of AI. One of my teachers immediately stated, “I am not in favor of it.” He emphasized the importance of writing by hand whenever possible and crafting assignments that are difficult to cheat on. He believes teachers should also avoid using AI themselves, especially for lesson plans or writing rec letters. In his view, educators cannot tell students to produce authentic work while relying on AI to do their own.

His concerns went beyond academic dishonesty. He believed that writing is not simply a way to demonstrate knowledge, but it's the process through which students develop critical thinking skills. It forces you to slow down your thoughts, and really analyze the ideas you put down. When students use AI to write for them, they lose this opportunity to strengthen their reasoning and communication abilities.

To combat misuse, he has adapted many aspects of his classroom. Assignments and projects are always designed with AI in mind, exams are completed on paper, and written work is structured to make the students' independent thinking and ideas clearer. He even suggested collecting a writing sample from students at the beginning of the year so teachers have a baseline understanding of each student’s writing style. If a student’s writing suddenly improves in unrealistic ways, teachers would have former work to look back on to identify a misuse.

An English teacher expressed a similar concern, but framed differently. She compared AI to a robot lifting weights for someone at the gym. While the task may get completed, the person doing it gains none of the strength. Skills like reading, writing, and analytical thinking are like muscles that must be trained. If AI performs those tasks for students, they fail to develop the skills those assignments were designed to build.

This perspective of Humanities teachers highlights an important destruction that is often overlooked in discussions of AI. Schools aren’t just places where students take tests and produce answers. They are places where students grow, develop skills and abilities. If students misuse AI, they skip the learning process and gain little from their education.

At the same time, my STEM teachers offered another perspective.

One math teacher argued that AI has huge potential when used correctly. In her view, the point of math education isn’t to obtain answers, but to understand the process and logic behind the solution.

She described AI as a personalized tutor available anytime. It is extremely accessible and portable. Instead of asking for answers, students can ask for hints, clarify difficult concepts, identify mistakes, or find alternative methods to solve a problem. If used this way, AI encourages greater learning rather than replacing it.

What stood out to me was that this teacher wasn’t focused on preventing the use of AI, but instead focusing on how to use it responsibly. She suggested that schools create “frameworks that help students to ask questions and use AI as a tool to further their learning.”

And yet the most fascinating perspective game from a teacher who viewed AI primarily as an accessibility tool. Instead of focusing on issues of cheating or efficiency, he emphasized its ability to “bridge skill gaps and expand opportunities”. Students who struggle with writing, language barriers, or access to academic support can use AI to get assistance that may not otherwise be available.

This perspective reframes the entire debate. Instead of asking if AI is good or bad, it asks who benefits from it and why. AI has the potential to change the future of education by giving students access to knowledge, explanations, and support that were previously limited by geography, income, or resources.

After conducting these interviews, I realized how controversial this topic is, and will continue to be. It is difficult to get people to speak on it, and when they do, everyone has different ideas and opinions on how to address it.

Banning AI entirely is unrealistic. Students will continue to use it, and the technology will only become more advanced. At the same time, unrestricted use creates real concerns about learning loss, critical thinking, and academic integrity.

The solution needs to be somewhere in between. Schools need to stop treating AI as purely a way to cheat and avoid learning. Instead, educators should have honest conversations with students on what AI does well, what it does poorly, and when it is appropriate to use. Students need guidance. They need frameworks on responsible use, not just threats about cheating.

The teachers that I interviewed may disagree on many aspects of AI, but they all share the common concern of helping students learn. The challenge facing education today isn't whether AI will enter the classroom. It already has. The real challenge is making sure that as this technology becomes even more powerful, students continue to develop the critical skills necessary in their futures.