An expanded use of artificial intelligence technology in education may affect children’s literacy and speaking skills. With new technologies being introduced in schools, children are learning in environments where educational tools can be digital and automatic. While this new addition has benefits for interactive learning, it eliminates a human element from the school environment.
AI has a role in making learning more personalized, and its use in schools has expanded over the past few decades. Beginning in the 1980s and ‘90s, digital literacy courses were introduced into schools to promote knowledge of the internet and technological skills. Most modern school districts require digital literacy classes in their curricula. Digital literacy encourages critical thinking skills, communication, and other basic skills that are a necessity for any job. As the internet evolved and AI emerged in the past decade, it’s easier to teach these skills to an even younger classroom. Now, with AI, students can receive personal lessons that give them immediate feedback, creating less work for the teachers.
According to the National Assessment Governing Board, fewer than one-third of students nationwide are reading at a Proficient level, as judged by the National Assessment of Educational Progress scale. While AI provides attentive lessons, it also discourages the students from developing literacy skills. AI encourages young children to pay more attention to devices rather than paper because technology now has a personality and is able to engage with the user. Students would likely prefer to ask AI for a summary of a book than read it themselves. With AI providing simplified overviews of questions, it discourages children from developing deep thinking skills and answering questions thoughtfully. Katie Kluge, a freshman English teacher at Pennridge High School, remarked that “AI being available to [students] makes it harder for them to see the purpose of writing without it.” This contributes to the declining literacy rate because not only are kids not able to read, but they also cannot digest the material that they are reading.
AI is built to be obedient and adjust its answers to the interests of the user. Because of this feature, negative behavior can accidentally be encouraged through active communication with an AI chatbot. Generally, younger children can communicate best with humans, as opposed to machines. When placing children in an environment where they’re surrounded by technology and prompted to interact with it, it risks inhibiting their social development. Children might get used to always getting what they want and rarely interacting with someone who would disagree with them. This can promote unhealthy, narcissistic behaviors in children who are excessively exposed to AI. “If students aren’t exposed to the positive and negative, they won’t learn critical thinking skills,” explained Staci Klemmer, Pennridge Keystone testing director.
English teachers are actively fighting the declining literacy rate among American youth. This is done through rigorous course material and engaging electives such as journalism classes. Journalism is an English course centered around developing creativity and writing skills. The class encourages students to dive deeper into issues that they’re passionate about and shape their writing for a specific audience. Journalism can be a lengthy process, pushing students away from shallow and computer-processed work, as created by AI.
Sources
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/edcast/24/10/impact-ai-childrens-development
https://irrc.education.uiowa.edu/blog/2018/03/student-journalism-provides-literacy-learning-and-motivation-write
https://irrc.education.uiowa.edu/blog/2018/04/news-you-can-use-student-journalism-instruction-and-effects-literacy-skills
https://escholarship.org/content/qt5zg9m2gq/qt5zg9m2gq.pdf
https://www.nagb.gov/news-and-events/news-releases/2025/nations-report-card-decline-in-reading-progress-in-math.html
