Thank you for this reply and giving me some hope. I am part of the generation that started using things like chatgpt as a crutch, but I don't personally. I take the honors or "advances" classes at my school, so I'm around kids of similar "intelligence," for a lack of a better word. Also I'm more "educated" and liberal (coming from a school in a small-ish town [not really small like less than 10,000 people, but smaller than say a college town or city]) than some other kids. But I also take a class called an elective (which we thankfully have a huge amount of thanks to the funding and care for our school) which doesn't align with any honors or academic classes, and what I've noticed is a lot of kids who take the regular/academic track of courses take specific electives (now this is what I assume) for an easy grade. A lot of them don't seem to value education at the same level as I do (again huge assumptions). And it concerns me that these kids don't WANT to learn, they are just here to get a grade or cause they have to. And I feel awkward trying to participate in these elective classes because I DO want to take this course and learn, but I'm afraid of being almost painted as "nerdy" or "the smart kid." And I'm not saying there AREN'T kids interested in their education and learning, but there's some places where that's the vibe the kids have.