As AI Seeps Into Daily School Life, Concerns Grow Over Children’s Cognitive Erosion (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — As major universities grapple with cheating scandals linked to artificial intelligence, concerns are now spreading to the very start of the country’s education system: elementary schools, where students are increasingly outsourcing thinking and assignments to AI tools.
Teachers in Seoul report that upper-grade students now instinctively turn to AI for anything requiring research or reasoning. “For them, doing assignments efficiently with AI has become a kind of bragging right — even a form of power,” said Kim, 25, who taught fifth graders last year at an elementary school in Dongjak District.
Kim recalled a classroom debate on “no-kids zones,” where students quickly asked ChatGPT for arguments and returned with sophisticated terms such as “property rights,” “freedom of business,” and “publicness of space.” “These are concepts children would not normally generate on their own,” he said. “It deprives them of the chance to think, even on issues that relate directly to their lives.”
Other teachers share similar concerns. Park, a sixth-grade teacher, said students now learn how to use AI tools as part of school programs. “Taking a picture of a math problem and asking AI to solve it is no challenge at all,” she said. “But strengthening basic literacy and numeracy should come first.”
Children listen to a reading lesson in a nursery classroom at an elementary school in Seoul, South Korea (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Students themselves describe AI as woven into their school lives. A sixth grader in Seocho District said classmates use ChatGPT to settle arguments or write campaign speeches for class elections. Another student said friends rely on AI to draft scripts for school events or complete research tasks “because looking things up is a hassle.”
Parents are conflicted. Some worry about cognitive dependence, while others believe early mastery of AI is essential in a rapidly changing world. “I worry because this is a shift our generation never experienced,” said the father of a sixth grader. “But I also wonder if my child will fall behind without using AI.”
Experts warn that without clear boundaries, AI use among young students could erode critical thinking skills. “Copying and pasting AI-generated answers defeats the purpose of using technology to expand thought,” said Yang Jeong-ho, an education professor at Sungkyunkwan University. “Their reasoning and critical faculties will inevitably weaken.”
Park Nam-gi, an education scholar at Gwangju National University of Education, said learning cannot be “outsourced.” “If students let AI think for them, they will stop using their own brains,” he said, urging schools to establish guidelines and safeguards to curb misuse.
For now, the debate reflects a broader national dilemma: how to cultivate digital literacy without allowing AI to supplant the fundamental process of learning itself.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
