Opinion | Artificial Intelligence, Phones and Teaching Today: 12 Educators Discuss.

Elvionna, 47, S.C., Black, Democrat

Not good.

Jeff, 33, Mass., white, independent

Uneasy.

Rachel, 46, N.J., white, Democrat

Fearful.

Brandi, 41, N.D., white, Republican

Frustrated.

Alex, 44, N.C., Latino, independent

I’m at a standstill with how things are going.

Jay, 39, Mo., white, Democrat

Hopeless.

Tom, 59, Calif., Asian, Republican

Cautiously optimistic.

Donyea, 45, Md., Black, Democrat

Concerned.

Dana, 59, Fla., white, Republican

Dismayed.

Evan, 31, N.Y., white, Democrat

It’s a complex thing; concerned, I guess.

Danielle, 59, Mont., white, Republican

Optimistic.

Sarah, 54, Calif., white, Republican

Resoundingly optimistic.

Sarah, 54, Calif., white, Republican

Economically, we’re headed in the right direction. I’m really pleased that we’re focused on our own citizens, our own people. We got what we were promised, so there was no hidden agenda.

Sarah, 54, Calif., white, Republican

Gross domestic product. And there’s a lot more growth in all of my financial assets, which is reassuring as someone who’s nearing retirement.

Tom, 59, Calif., Asian, Republican

We hear a lot of conflicting things in the media, so I’m never sure what take is factual or what the reality is. Economically, there’s some potential for growth and some reassurance about jobs and manufacturing coming back to the country, if that occurs. That’s the caution part.

Elvionna, 47, S.C., Black, Democrat

Because, talking with friends, people are losing jobs instead of getting jobs.

Alex, 44, N.C., Latino, independent

On a personal level, my wife would love for us to get a new home. But due to interest rates, it’s not a good financial decision. I also teach in a minority-based school. And I am concerned: When I get back, will I have students missing because of deportation or fear of deportation?

Jay, 39, Mo., white, Democrat

I’m an optimistic person. But every day I read the news, there’s just another headline that somebody’s rights are being taken away or science is being dialed back or policies that protect the Earth are being reversed. It just makes me a little hopeless.

Dana, 59, Fla., white, Republican

I think it’ll be the same. I really don’t see that much change. This is my 29th year in public education. I do have concerns: I work in a Title I School with a special population, and my concern is funding. When you see those students who are from other countries and other places, or who have disabilities or have special needs, and they’re striving for education and they’re graduating, they’re walking across the stage, that’s everything. I don’t know if it’s going to be better. I don’t know if it’s going to be worse.

Donyea, 45, Md., Black, Democrat

I don’t see anything drastically improving because I haven’t heard any plan. I don’t look for people to tell me what I want to hear. But I hear about, we need to bring back manufacturing jobs, but what are we planning to manufacture? Who is going to work these jobs? Because all of these jobs that are here now are being worked by the illegal people that we’re sending away. So how does that look? Something could improve; I like to be optimistic. But we’re never given an actual plan. I can only cheerlead for so long. There’s also so much hate that is celebrated now. And it’s like, why — you don’t even know why you hate these people? But we also have a system of checks and balances, and we can correct course as time goes on.

Rachel, 46, N.J., white, Democrat

I do feel like we’re going backwards. We’re taking things away from people. We are going backwards in terms of climate as well. They just stopped funding for mRNA vaccine research. Freethinking at colleges and universities is being affected. We’re going to have a lot of issues in the next few years.

Elvionna, 47, S.C., Black, Democrat

I’m really trying to think about it. I don’t think they’re ahead of us, but what I would consider America’s best days, I can’t say it’s behind. I’m hopeful that they’re ahead of us, put it that way.

Brandi, 41, N.D., white, Republican

I feel like they’re ahead of us. We got through Covid and we’re still here. And giving power back to the states; with education, you’re going to find out which states care about their educational programs if that happens.

Danielle, 59, Mont., white, Republican

I think our best days are ahead of us. Part of it is that I’ve been watching all of the institutions going along the same way. Now things are getting shaken up, and I think there’s a chance for something to happen differently. I don’t think education’s working really well, and if people start changing things, then there’s an opportunity to improve. When I see a shake-up it makes me excited, whether that means money for charter schools or states owning it, or anything people can think of. I think we need some new ideas.

Evan, 31, N.Y., white, Democrat

You have some sort of social responsibility and impact. I teach social studies, and there are very applicable connections. It’s also very authentic.

Tom, 59, Calif., Asian, Republican

I’ll see kids when they first enter high school as ninth graders in my biology class, then oftentimes they’ll come back to me for my anatomy or my A.P. biology class. So I get to measure their growth throughout high school and see how they mature and change. When they see me as upperclassmen, they buy into my shtick, and they’re on board with the way class works. It’s a really nice experience that way.

Tom, 59, Calif., Asian, Republican

Fun class, hard test. That’s my reputation.

Sarah, 54, Calif., white, Republican

I like the connection. What I really enjoy the most is really teaching them how to be critical thinkers and critical consumers of information. Because what I see happening quite a bit is that these kids on their phones, they’re doing their TikTok and everything else, reel after reel after reel. It’s so passive. There’s no engagement at all. So you take that and you run with it. You say, “What is it that you’re watching lately? Oh, what message do you think is behind that? Let’s think about the message that it’s sending, and put out the possible messages.” I like that, having them become more conscious consumers of all of the rhetoric that’s going on.

Elvionna, 47, S.C., Black, Democrat

So this is my 25th year teaching, and I teach at a school that is 99 percent African American. The school is known to be a rough school in a more rural area. And I love it because I get to share with my students and say, “Hey, I came from a similar background as you, and you can do it if I can do it.” I like having these conversations about your life and about your career, and being a robotics club adviser. They know that I do care because I’ve been there so long and I’ve taught brothers, sisters, cousins — I’m teaching some of my students’ children. They always ask, “You’re still at that school?” And I say, “Guess what. I love it, they love me, and I feel like I’m making a difference.”

Donyea, 45, Md., Black, Democrat

As I got older, I realized I was good at explaining things, that I sometimes explained things better than the teacher. I teach math, and I enjoy getting them to see they can do it. There’s no such thing as you can’t do it. I like that aspect of it.

Jay, 39, Mo., white, Democrat

I come from a family of educators. It just has always been a part of my life. That idea of teaching people, of spreading knowledge, it just becomes a part of who you are.

Dana, 59, Fla., white, Republican

So I went to a private college and didn’t know anything about teaching students who were learning to speak English. I moved to Florida and they put me out in this rural place where I had mostly students that didn’t speak English. Teaching was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I honed my craft and learned. And I have met some of my students that I’ve taught over the past 28 years, and they’ve come to me and they’ve said,“Because of you, I learned English and I got a job.” It’s completely different than what I thought it would be, but very rewarding at the same time.

Danielle, 59, Mont., white, Republican

I think the biggest challenge is finding a way to interest the kids into wanting to do this. We have to figure out a way to come around the kids and trick them into wanting to learn.

Sarah, 54, Calif., white, Republican

The biggest challenge for me is to make sure that I am on top of the latest so that they are engaged, that they are invested. Like creating a TikTok or a commercial about this, and be convincing. What arguments are you using? What are your counterpoints? They love the technology. They want to use it. Great. Let’s run with it. Let’s see what we can do.

Alex, 44, N.C., Latino, independent

As a math teacher, the question that I hear at least once a week is: When am I going to use this in life? I’ve come up with various different answers to it. Some of them they don’t like.

Alex, 44, N.C., Latino, independent

The most honest and truthful one is, hey, knowing some of these things, you may not use them, but as Sarah said about critical thinking, it makes you think, makes you analyze, makes you better.

Elvionna, 47, S.C., Black, Democrat

We must all get those questions. I always say, “Hey, you can solve a problem on any job if you know how to use your critical thinking skills. You can think logically. You can do those things.” Some challenges I feel that I face as an educator have nothing to do with the students, per se. It’s just the grading. We can’t give students below a 50 percent for a period of weeks. The students have to take responsibility for their learning. When I was in school, we didn’t get all these extra chances to redo anything; I took responsibility for my learning. As teachers, we have to follow the laws, and we have to go along with what is being implemented. But I feel like we’re holding the kids back a little bit because they’re not going to push themselves.

Danielle, 59, Mont., white, Republican

We work harder than most other jobs, and that’s it. Congratulations. You can be a teacher next year. Or: Oh, we’re going to give you a 2 percent raise. There’s no chance for promotion. You don’t get to be super teacher and now make double. There’s no financial reward or incentive except your own sense of achievement.

Sarah, 54, Calif., white, Republican

I love teaching, it’s just that I’ve been exposed to more and I think I would have liked to have gone into law. There are just so many other interests that I have.

Alex, 44, N.C., Latino, independent

Big picture, there’s just financial things that come along with it. Listen, I have a friend that’s a cop that’s retiring now, and he makes a quarter million dollars a year. Not even the principal at my school makes a quarter of a million dollars. I don’t feel like I made the wrong choice because I still do OK, but it’s a lot of work. Moving from a state that has a union and then moving where teachers are not valued the same way, that’s given me a new perspective, too.

Dana, 59, Fla., white, Republican

I feel kids are less prepared academically. They don’t come with the level of reading that they used to come with. They’re reading far below grade level when they enter, for a variety of reasons. We have a lot of absenteeism. Students are very, very behind in reading.

Tom, 59, Calif., Asian, Republican

I’m starting my 29th year. Student engagement and motivation has gone way down. At the high school where I teach, the school used to come out for pep rallies. You had a big support system in place. And anymore, it seems like kids have so many other things going on outside of school, that they are not connected, and then that’s translated into lower motivation in class. And then I’m competing with social media. So that part of it has really changed. Everyone blames Covid, but more than just learning loss, it’s been the role of school. We’re asked to take on more and more. Roles that parents used to do, now the school is pursuing.

Tom, 59, Calif., Asian, Republican

Well, absenteeism. There’s no fine for absenteeism. We just try to coax the student to come to school. Or chronic tardiness. If kids are arriving late all the time, there’s no teeth in our policy. We can’t assign after-school detention.

Evan, 31, N.Y., white, Democrat

So I’ve been teaching for far less than Tom and Dana, but I also believe motivation has gotten worse in the aftermath of Covid. There’s a few factors, but one is just having to compete with social media versus an undesirable activity, which is going to school and paying attention in class. It only makes sense that student motivation’s going to go down, along with the collapse of the village that’s supposed to motivate them and keep them going to school and doing what they need to do, even if they don’t want to do it.

Jeff, 33, Mass., white, independent

High school and a lot of life is what you make it. You’ll get what you put back into it. And I see that all the time. I see kids who make the most of their high school experience. They are having fun at the pep rallies. They’re hanging out with their friends. They’re being present in the moment.

Brandi, 41, N.D., white, Republican

You need to take responsibility for yourself, and you can be as good as you want to be. You need to have the motivation. Nobody’s going to motivate you to do it.

Jay, 39, Mo., white, Democrat

This sounds a little crazy, but don’t take it so seriously. There is life after high school. Don’t get me wrong. You could argue that some students certainly don’t take anything seriously. But on the flip side of that, some kids take things too seriously. Life is long.

Elvionna, 47, S.C., Black, Democrat

I always tell them, find an organization that you want to be a part of. Be involved at school, because when you involve yourself with your school and you’re taking pride in your school, then you’re going to do the best things to make that school look better.

Donyea, 45, Md., Black, Democrat

When we first came back, it was really rough because everybody just came back to school at the same time, and I had ninth graders who hadn’t really been in school since seventh grade. There was a lot of immaturity and misconduct, and some gaps in their knowledge. But now that we’re a few years through, I really don’t notice effects from Covid like I did before. It seems like certain things have been corrected and tapered off.

Danielle, 59, Mont., white, Republican

I agree. Though one positive change is Covid helped us all be able to do things virtually. There’s a natural disaster. We got a hurricane in Texas. OK, let’s all just teach on our computers. Whoever can show up, show up. Now, if you need extra help, go look on YouTube. If they want to learn, now they realize there’s a lot of different options for them.

Sarah, 54, Calif., white, Republican

I think the biggest impact that I’ve seen from Covid is the lack of social skills, like face-to-face interaction. It’s easy to hide behind a screen. So much easier to send something than say that same thing to a person’s face. No one’s going to argue that kids didn’t take an academic hit. But the whole social interaction piece — kids used to have a little more courage about engaging with each other.

Brandi, 41, N.D., white, Republican

One hundred percent, the socialization. They don’t want to talk to each other. They just want to sit and do their own thing. “Don’t look at me, don’t call on me, and I’m just going to get through this block and be done with this class.”

Evan, 31, N.Y., white, Democrat

I think it’s a double-edged sword. It does leverage a lot of opportunity, especially for teachers and students. You have essentially all of humanity’s knowledge at your fingertips. You can ask the computer a question. The computer spits out an answer. But on the opposite side, it really has given way to a whole new level of laziness and academic dishonesty. I teach a writing class. I know my students’ voice, and A.I. generally has a very distinctive writing voice. A lot of my kids just see it as: Oh, I can just type this into chat. It spits out an answer. I can just give it to you.

Alex, 44, N.C., Latino, independent

I actually just feel bad for teachers that have to read papers. As a math teacher, even before A.I. was big, the students found an app that can take a picture of the problem and then it’ll give them the answer. It’s just like: Hey, I got to do X amount of pages and I can get it done in six minutes as opposed to several hours.

Elvionna, 47, S.C., Black, Democrat

When it comes to A.I. in public schools, I feel like it’s helping us to become a little bit more creative. I go and I say, “Hey, give me a creative way to teach so and so or teach this topic.” Students have a tool at their fingertips just as well as educators, and it can help us all become a little bit more creative and we can learn some things, but you have to be honest about what you’re doing. In my class, my students know I don’t accept any A.I. answers. I’ll tell them straight up, “This is A.I.” But they have to solve problems and build things in my class, so A.I. can’t help do so many things with that. I also teach teachers in this alternative program. It’s funny: Teachers had to do a reflection about the workshop they were in, and several gave me A.I. answers. And I called them out. I said, in your classroom, would you allow this? That’s not right. So you’ve got to be honest about what you’re doing and teach your students the right way to do it.

Elvionna, 47, S.C., Black, Democrat

It causes a lot of distraction and brings in problems from the outside. Things are posted on social media; parents get involved. And of course, kids prefer to play games and watch a movie. They think they can multitask, and they can’t.

Rachel, 46, N.J., white, Democrat

I’ve been teaching for 23 years, and I’ve seen a big change in the kids over the years. It’s a lot of apathy in the classroom and lack of motivation. They’re just waiting to just get back on their phone. It’s like class time is almost just a pause in between what they really want to be doing, which is getting back onto their phones. We do have pockets in our school and actually are encouraged to have them in our classrooms. It’s actually made a huge difference having implemented that. It’s out of sight, out of mind for 40 minutes or 45 minutes while they’re in the class.

Tom, 59, Calif., Asian, Republican

At my school we’re implementing a new no-phone policy, so it’s going to go in a pocket on the wall. And so I’m looking forward to that change. But stepping back, looking at a bigger picture, I think we look at the phone as a device that’s separate from us, that we can use it as a tool, but kids see it as part of themselves. It’s part of their whole operating schema. So when you try to take that away, they get anxious. They feel like, well, I can look it up on the phone. It’s part of them. They’ve connected the phone to their individuality. It’s a part of who they are. I think A.I. is going to be a similar challenge. It’s the Wild West with A.I. Every teacher at my school has a different policy about it, and so there’s no unified policy, and that’s confusing for kids.

Donyea, 45, Md., Black, Democrat

What I would say I noticed about how phones have changed is, really, the phone use has changed as the phones have evolved. Back then you had kids sneaking to text each other on their phones, and that was the extent. As social media became popular, they got Instagram. That’s when it got a lot worse. I work at a school with a Yondr policy; the kids still get around it. They sneak on their phones. But when there’s a policy in place, I don’t have kids just on their phones all the time. But as far as how phone use has changed, it really has — they do all of the same things that the adults do.

Evan, 31, N.Y., white, Democrat

So my school has had plenty of experience with this. We had a stabbing in our school’s building a couple of years ago. What we actually found was that cellphones actually made the environment less safe because parents were texting kids being like, “Hey, we don’t care if the school’s on lockdown. You’ve got to leave. You’ve got to go home.” Then there’s kids texting rumors and lies about it and stuff like that. It actually made the environment less safe.

Alex, 44, N.C., Latino, independent

The parents are sometimes worse than the kids with their insistence on phones. It’s just the whole thing where, “Oh, you’re not going to take my child’s phone. I got it for them. It’s for me to be in contact with them.” But it’s like, yes, I understand that, but do you really need to be in contact with them at 10:30 in the morning when you should be at work and they should be in class learning? Is there something that can’t wait until 2:00, 3:00 p.m.? Also, sometimes — and it doesn’t necessarily tie into phones, but some parents have so many responsibilities for their kids. And yes, some of the kids are resilient in that way, but it’s just — sometimes it seems like they’re having to grow up too fast.

Jeff, 33, Mass., white, independent

My students are achieving. My students are leading test scores. I live in Massachusetts, and we’re doing really well in education. I think that it would continue if there was no Department of Education and it was up to the states, but I don’t think that’s true across the board.

Brandi, 41, N.D., white, Republican

I am not concerned where I live. I think that we’re going to thrive. Other states, I think, will take a plunge, and it could cause a further divide as far as the levels of education go. It’s really going to show who cares about education.

Dana, 59, Fla., white, Republican

So I understand that people in different areas say, “My kids are doing well.” But overall, when these positions are not funded — the specialists that support teachers, that support new teachers and mentors and staffing and all that — teachers and kids eventually are the ones who suffer. Then we all suffer in the long run.

Sarah, 54, Calif., white, Republican

I don’t know what the purpose of the Department of Education at the federal level was supposed to be. Outside of issuing funding for Title I, Title II, I believe in local control.

Rachel, 46, N.J., white, Democrat

It’s going to be a detriment to education to dismantle the Department of Education. Schools or programs that rely on federal funding are going to suffer, students with disabilities. It’s going to depend on the state. I think it’s going to cause more of a divide.

Evan, 31, N.Y., white, Democrat

It’s one thing if one person just believes in smaller government and local control. That’s great. But then it’s a different thing if people in government are trying to intentionally drive a wedge and divide and create inequity and trap people where they are.

Donyea, 45, Md., Black, Democrat

I’m not overly concerned about this Department of Education cut. I do think it’s a bad thing because the different programs that are funded, if you’re losing money, then that could always affect something. But I’ve also read that the federal government only contributes a small percentage of what those states put towards education. So I think it’s a symbolic shakeup just to say we finally shook it up because we’ve been wanting to do this for so many years.

Alex, 44, N.C., Latino, independent

It feels like people in other parts of the world don’t understand us. The fact that you have to kind of explain, hey, we’re the only country that this happens in — it’s tough.

Alex, 44, N.C., Latino, independent

Like, gun violence. Like, we’re the only kind of country that has the high amount of gun violence, especially in schools.

Sarah, 54, Calif., white, Republican

I believe America stands for freedom. It really does. I understand there’s violence. But freedom is what America stands for, and we have a better standard of living than many places.

Sarah, 54, Calif., white, Republican

It’s clear we all have some different philosophical backgrounds just from the comments that we’ve made. But we all feel comfortable sharing those. So we have freedom of thought.

Elvionna, 47, S.C., Black, Democrat

So I think that America is perceived to a lot of people as the place of the freedom, the melting pot, the American dream. But we really don’t have that. America is a place where people take sides. It’s supposed to be free. But it’s all in what you consider free.

Jeff, 33, Mass., white, independent

I think America stands for advancement. We started as a place to come to advance our freedoms. Then it was advancement of where we’re living and westward expansion. And then people have the ability to advance their incomes, advance their beliefs, advance really just any aspect of their life. We’re making technological advances, we’re making medical advances, we’re making philosophical advances. We want better.

Evan, 31, N.Y., white, Democrat

I think that America stands for confidence, regardless of whether it’s actually justified. I believe that Americans truly believe that we are the best. It gets us far, but it can veer into delusion.

Tom, 59, Calif., Asian, Republican

I think I’d like to believe that America stands for opportunity, that if you have the will and the wherewithal you can take advantage of that opportunity. You can pull yourself up, move across social class and strata. I don’t know if that’s actually true, but I think that I’d like America to stand for that.

Dana, 59, Fla., white, Republican

I still believe in America, even though I might be upset or dismayed or concerned about some things, especially with education. I believe in America; I have hope. I believe it’s still a shining city on a hill. I believe in the promise of America.

Dana, 59, Fla., white, Republican

We will succeed. We will overcome our challenges. We will overcome all this intolerance and hate, and I want to be specific. Antisemitism. Racism. You have groups that are just out there just hating to hate. I have hope that this will end.