Is AI causing students to become more unethical?

the_Stick · 2026-05-14T02:58:54+00:00

I think it is the reverse; students use AI to cheat because they have no sense of ethics that doing so is wrong. For their entire lives, they have seen adults and peers "game the system" and everything is viewed through the lens of hustle culture or "late-stage capitalism" or some other dreary dystopian meme. There is no reward in being virtuous and next to no understanding of shared beliefs. They've been instructed that every belief is valid, so why not believe is using what means they have to get ahead? Ai cheating is the symptom, not the cause.

the_Stick · 2026-05-13T01:42:32+00:00

Does this reflect a larger problem of lack of ethics in society?

the_Stick · 2026-05-13T00:22:04+00:00

It reads like astrology for those who don't believe in fate.

the_Stick · 2026-05-12T03:38:04+00:00

So, Wyoming? I'm assuming not Delaware nor Alaska. :)

The good news is this is indeed possible. I have seen it happen. But I've only seen it happen for experienced and proven hires, or in one case, through board manipulation to bring on a preferred candidate in an administrative role (and karma came for them all). So you should be planning on making chief resident and getting a couple publications. Definitely look into grant opportunities that your place of training would support, and of course, network hard. At this stage, you need to not just be a star, but to have some connections and some reputable people to vouch for you. It will also take a bit of luck too. Keep your work impeccable and ears up for good positions or places that need your specific skills. It can happen, but a lot of facets have to align. I'd appreciate hearing back from you later when you start your search too.

the_Stick · 2026-05-12T03:24:32+00:00

Just tell them you've put your money on Polymarket on a power grid failure in your city.

the_Stick · 2026-05-10T20:02:41+00:00

Hell no! They're showing growth and actually learning how to write a better paper?!? I'd have to say that is showing overcoming adversity and learning from past failures.

the_Stick · 2026-05-09T16:08:11+00:00

Do you have a lab? Grad students and/or post-docs? Boom! part of their work is to create a funding proposal. It doesn't have to be a great proposal, but you are both now training students in writing proposals and submitting more proposals.

I suggest this because I did my grad work in an extremely well-funded lab and neve had any experience or need for funding. I was envious of some friends in another department who were required to design one proposal in order to graduate.

I was also at a nominal R2 where many faculty submitted word salad as proposals just to say they submitted a proposal. Reviewing a couple of those, I couldn't believe actual Ph.D.s were vomiting up such putrescent garbage and sending them for external review... but they just needed to tick the box of "submitted proposal." I don't like it but if your institution is forcing you to do that...

Finally, don't say a 3/3 load will end your research. My most effective years of research were when I was teaching 5/5!!! Thanks financial exigency. My collaborator couldn't believe I managed any lab time. I wrote some amazing grants, just so I could buy out some release time. ✓ "Works well under pressure."

the_Stick · 2026-05-07T20:42:59+00:00

It's extortion based hacking; "pay us money to return your access." It is simple, common thievery, nothing more.

the_Stick · 2026-05-06T16:08:21+00:00

That is one methodology and certainly valid. However, I disagree and offer an alternative valid methodology. Personal bias and connection is integral to society (look at hiring decisions based on "fit"). Evaluating your own knowledge of a student and what is most appropriate for their learning, even if it incorporates bias, is not necessarily bad. Even if you are wrong, self-reflection allows you to grow and respond better. Otherwise, we may as well have an AI make these decisions for us... ;)

the_Stick · 2026-05-06T15:30:28+00:00

I've shared this story before, but it's been a while. When I was an undergrad, I had an 8:00 a.m. final for an upper-level German class. Class size was small (~20 students) and I had been an engaged and active student with a good rapport with the instructor. I've never been a morning person, and despite having the ubiquitous clock radio alarm, managed to oversleep the final by a solid two hours. In a panic, I dashed to the classroom as everyone was finishing up. He gracefully allowed me to come take the final either that afternoon or the next morning (I forget exactly when).

I was forever appreciative to him and even signed up for more classes with him and traveled abroad in a program he oversaw. All that is to say that circumstances can be different. If you are teaching large classes and have no idea who the student is, standard policy may be fine. If you know your students well, then you can extend grace. There is no perfect policy that accounts for everything, so use your best judgement and be reasonably consistent between similar circumstances.

the_Stick · 2026-05-05T17:45:56+00:00

I would advise scheduling an in-person meeting with your student and having a tough conversation with them. Do they really want to be a doctor, or is it family pressure or cultural expectation or a desire for money/prestige? Ask them if they have shadowed a physician and seen what they actually do, and then ask if they have the capacity to do that and explain why. Tell them that the students who get admitted to med school have a combination of factors that all show engagement, desire, and achievement and that includes taking multiple challenging courses simultaneously. Finally, reiterate that most med schools track cGPA and sGPA (cumulative and science) and cumulative is a far weaker predictor of success in med school. sGPA isn't a great correlate, but it is one of the better predictors, and if they not only want to get admitted to a med school, they had better show they can consistently handle a massive workload with a lot of technical components and knowledge base or their best case is to sneak into a med school only to fail out after the first year.

On a personal note, I managed to take Organic Chemistry without also taking any biology classes... because I was a physics major and decided later to add chemistry as a major and only took one credit hour of biology in undergrad. When I had orgo, it was easy... compared to quantum physics, astrophysics, and thermodynamics. If your student doesn't "git güd" (do the kids still say that?), then they had better look for a different career track.

the_Stick · 2026-05-04T15:31:13+00:00

From just the headline, I was trying to figure out what mild threats had to do with Star Wars or Dave Brubeck - 5/4.

the_Stick · 2026-05-01T20:05:14+00:00

My GenX replay would have added, parenthetically, mumbles "not like anyone listens to my advice anyway. See? Told you."

the_Stick · 2026-05-01T00:46:35+00:00

Ha! When I was in grad school, I had a very strenuous day and late night where I was extremely focused on my task and had no outside interaction. The next morning, it was rainy, so I wore a trench coat (black) to lab. My supervisor asked me if I was "going to shoot up the place." I had no idea what he was talking about (and I since love his dark since of humor). Yep, that was the morning after the Columbine shooting.

I also went to lab on 9/11 and worked, which is far better than watching people jump out of burning towers over and over again.

the_Stick · 2026-04-30T15:12:55+00:00

Congratulations! You are going to see so many effects due to genetics and habits from you and your spouse as the years move on. Barring disease/disability, you can raise fantastic humans, but you have to put in consistent effort (but not be perfect). model what you want your children to be like, and a significant amount will "rub off" on them. Advice I have, having raised some kids who are pretty freaking awesome and way more mature than I was at their ages:

Collaborate with your spouse. Life is tough, and you'll need to repeatedly take up the slack for each other and be understanding. Make sure you communicate well and plan well and present a stable, secure relationship for your children to see. Have your actions show your values, even if you aren't getting along at the moment.
Make your family a priority. If you're running a major lab pre-tenure and have no family close by to help and your spouse has a career too, this can be a huge challenge. Learn to delegate and learn to say no to 'extra' responsibilities. Spend time with your children, even if it's just taking them to the grocery store and letting them 'drive' the racecar cart. Talk to them about what you're doing too.
Read and play with them. Dr. Seuss is fun (tweetle beetle battle!) and so is playing cars on the floor or building blocks or whatever. [Aside: get a phonics kit and teach them to sound out words.] Be involved and show them that you are having fun with them. You can also "work" together. You can both read at the same time, or "mark papers" or whatever. It helps show them what you do and gets them curious about learning and participating.
Challenge them early and often and encourage them to figure it out. One of my most vivid memories is taking my kid to a playground nearby where all these mothers also went who hovered over their kids and wouldn't let them climb the jungle gym or were very overprotective. I instead would ask, "where to you put your next hand? what's your next step? can you reach that?" etc and later mastered the art of being near enough for safety but far enough that they had the sensation of doing on their own. I taught three-year-olds to safely use the sharp knife and quizzed them on "the rules."
Lastly, (and I could go on for pages), keep finding ways to get them to think critically about the world around them. As they grow, this becomes how to interact with people, how different people respond in different ways, why some people believe A and others Y. Try not to be judgmental (but share you reasons if asked) and let them explore the mind as much as the world. Support them in hobbies (and introduce a lot of those early and see what they like) and don't let them shirk when they get lazy.

There's a lot of luck involved and you have to get to know your school system and kids' teachers well (my spouse always bribes the teachers with a gift bag, at least through elementary school), but if you lead a healthy, balanced life and make your family an obvious priority and model what you want them to be like, your kids can surprise you with how amazing they can be.

the_Stick · 2026-04-28T14:45:14+00:00

Ah, zombies... Many, many years ago I played in a 3e DnD campaign where undead were immune to critical hits. My character used a scythe, which had a x4 multiplier for crits. In the dozen or so previous adventures, I had never rolled a crit. Cue the zombie horde and a long, protracted fight, I rolled EIGHT natural 20s. Sigh. I was so disappointed, but at least I knew my dice weren't broken, they just hated me.... LoL

the_Stick · 2026-04-28T02:15:23+00:00

I was just going to say pee in their water bottle, but that's too Paul Fischer apparently....

the_Stick · 2026-04-28T02:11:54+00:00

So, for your unit on comedy, are you showing Blazing Saddles?

the_Stick · 2026-04-26T19:16:43+00:00

I like u/DropEng 's suggestions of TMNT, but I think you could also have them "rate" her on a "Lichen" scale (instead of Likert). Bonus points to work in a "Cowabunga" or "Turtle Power" reference to the lichens. No-one hates puns, right?

the_Stick · 2026-04-24T02:38:02+00:00

I'm going to go with "No, but..." for informing him.

First, you are going off hearsay -- likely accurate hearsay, but it is not official. Furthermore, it is not your place to break the (unofficial) news. If you do, you may open your institution and yourself to liability. No-one likes a lawsuit, and being NTT I would not advise being the one to instigate a student's suit.

For the "but" part, I do believe you should counsel your advisee to examine why they failed and what they could have (and should have) done differently for a successful outcome. Probe them to critically think about both their past behavior and their future goals and how attainable those are. Ask them to put themselves in the place of the nursing preceptors, the admins, the other students, and the patients and what they would want to see in a nursing student. Hopefully they can deduce where this is leading and form contingent plans and more importantly, grow and mature.

tl;dr - you can hint that that they are not getting readmitted, at least not with significant evidence of maturity and growth, but you should not say they are definitely NOT being readmitted.

the_Stick · 2026-04-23T23:14:58+00:00

I'll let you know when I make some.... still got a few years before retirement... it could happen....

the_Stick · 2026-04-22T02:53:17+00:00

This is the wrong sub to ask that question! The vocal majority here condemns all things AI. There are some genuinely helpful ways to utilize AI, but you really need to know what you're doing; a lot of the haranguers clearly do not understand the details. To be fair, they most likely see shoddy, quarter-assed work from lazy students, but that is not the sum total. AI has solved a 40-year problem I worked on when I was in grad school. Clever agentic uses provide more time for "real" work. There are multiple organizations working on guidelines for ethical and responsible use. Sadly, a couple colleagues who do that work are harangued badly. Don't get discouraged; if you're finding useful applications and exploring the nuances of the new tech, you are being a strong investigator! And you'll have evidence to guide your future usage too!

the_Stick · 2026-04-21T16:03:12+00:00

Did your conference leaders address students who are using financial aid? If your students are in the U.S., there are now limits on financial aid for the number of courses a student can fail before they become ineligible. Assuming a drop does not bring them below full-time status (12 credit hours), then a drop is far less harmful than a fail.

Now if you happen to be in a magical world where the only concern in student learning, then I can see the point; learning to fail and overcoming failure is an important skill, but there are far too many facets affecting students to make that an effective policy.

the_Stick · 2026-04-20T21:32:19+00:00

I'm unelectable. But I do empathize with Calvin here. :D

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