The loss that he describes is deeper and more existential than anything academic integrity can protect: a specific, if perhaps decaying, way of being among students and their teachers. “AI has already changed the classroom into something I no longer recognize,” he told me. In this view, AI isn’t a harbinger of the future but the last straw in a profession that was almost lost already, to funding collapse, gun violence, state overreach, economic decay, credentialism, and all the rest. New technology arrives on that grim shore, making schoolwork feel worthless, carried out to turn the crank of a machine rather than for teaching or learning.
If I had my way my class would just be pass/no pass and I'd just leave students helpful comments to help them grow as writers instead of having to fine-tune grades on a scale. What's the actual difference between an 89 and 90? Nothing really but it's huge for a student's GPA. Really annoying.
Oh I agree, the difference doesn't exist for students it exists for unis/employers though right? They're the ones that want that granularity.