With essay season rounding out to a close in Lakeland High School’s English classes, it’s a good time for LHS students to reflect on the lack of spell check use this year.
Grammarly was the boat helping students float along in their English classes for the past few years, and suddenly, that privilege was revoked.
Grammarly added a new AI feature this previous year that reworded sentences and added sentences to paragraphs to give a more well-worded and filled-in paper. Due to the use of AI, the school board decided to block Grammarly from school computers.
Many students relied heavily on Grammarly to make sure their essays were sufficient for teachers grading rubrics.
This also raises the question of whether Grammarly was too much of a helper tool. In the past, students had support, allowing them to correct their mistakes without learning how to write properly.
The use of AI is becoming a more pressing issue throughout the country and LHS isn’t the only school banning all things AI.
The Lakeland School Board decided to ban Grammarly because they are trying to limit student’s use of AI.
“It was related to the AI that creates it and wanting to limit the access that students have to AI-generated software,” Assistant Principal Shannon LaFountaine said.
LaFountaine explained that the board’s goal wasn’t to eliminate students’ use of spell check but to eliminate AI even though it isn’t extremely effective.
“We know when you’re not at school, you can have access. I do think there are appropriate ways to use AI. I think there are ways we can teach students to use it as a tool,” LaFountaine said.
As LaFountaine explained, there can be beneficial ways for students to learn to use AI technology, such as Grammarly, as a tool, but there is still the chance that students may rely on it too much.
“I’m not seeing a ton of difference myself in students’ writing, mostly common mistakes like comma splices,” Shannon Hall said, “I’m wondering if students are using Grammarly on their own time at home. I personally don’t care if students use it because I see it as a tool like spellcheck.”
Hall is the college English teacher here at LHS and explained that she has noticed no difference in her students’ writing, which is comparable to how students feel about their own writing.
Students have found many differences in their own writing this year after not having to correct their grammar and spelling on their own.
Beau Ellin, a senior at LHS, explained the two sides of how his writing has been affected.
“Using Grammarly did have a bad effect on my personal capabilities of writing because I wouldn’t have to try as hard on my own and relied on the computer,” Ellin said, “It was beneficial because, in a way, it helped me have proper grammar before I turned in assignments and it helped me edit papers.”
Editing papers is Grammarly’s main job, and it is a crucial part of many people’s jobs and parts of school. Since Grammarly was blocked, Aly Caywood, Co-Chief Editor for the LHS Hawkeye, has observed a significant change in people’s writing and her editing.
“I noticed there are more mistakes with their grammar, and especially when editing stories, I have to do more grammar corrections than content corrections,” Aly Caywood said, “It’s also harder for me to edit stories without Grammarly.”
There are some downsides for those who need easy grammar and spellcheck functions on their computers. Some people have been looking for other websites to use that don’t include AI features and aren’t blocked, such as ProWritingAid.
The school board’s decision to ban Grammarly makes sense. With the increasing fear of AI in today’s world, maybe it’s time for students to learn how to write on their own.
