
Imagine if your child cheated on their school work by using AI. Would you be mad at the school or at your kid?
This couple, for some reason, is mad at the school. So mad, in fact, that they’re suing.
At a glance:
- Massachusetts parents Jennifer and Dale Harris are suing Hingham High School after their son was punished for using AI to complete a social studies paper.
- The family argues their son only used AI for research, not writing, and that no rules existed against AI usage at the time.
- The lawsuit demands the son’s grade be changed and that he be reinstated into the National Honor Society.
Jennifer and Dale Harris, parents of a Massachusetts teenager, have filed a lawsuit against Hingham High School after their son was punished for using artificial intelligence (AI) to complete a social studies assignment. The Harrises claim their son did not cheat, but merely used AI for research purposes, a practice not explicitly prohibited by the school’s handbook at the time.
The conflict arose after the school accused their son of academic dishonesty, giving him a grade of 65 out of 100 on his paper, assigning detention, and barring him from entry to the National Honor Society. His parents argue that these actions jeopardize his chances of being accepted into prestigious universities like Stanford or MIT, where he had already missed the opportunity for rolling admissions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk2V2QGzFDU&list=RDNSFk2V2QGzFDU&start_radio=1
According to Jennifer Harris, her son “got a perfect score on the ACTs” and had an exemplary academic record before this incident. The family’s lawsuit claims the school’s actions constituted “threats, intimidation, and coercion” and that the punishment was more severe than what other students received for similar infractions.
The central argument of the lawsuit is that the school had no official rules against AI use when the incident occurred. The parents argue their son used AI as a research tool and that penalizing him for such use was unfair. Jennifer Harris explained, “They basically punished him for a rule that doesn’t exist,” and their lawyer added that there is a “wide gulf” of understanding regarding AI use and plagiarism.
In response, Hingham High School, led by Principal Dr. John Buckey, defended the punishment, calling the use of AI a “serious infraction.” The school argued that the discipline was relatively lenient for what could have resulted in suspension. The school also contends that the student was given a copy of its AI policy, which prohibits AI use unless otherwise authorized.
The parents are demanding that their son’s grade be adjusted from a C to a B and that he be retroactively enrolled in the National Honor Society. They are also pushing for the school to update its AI policies to provide clearer guidelines for students.
Update their AI policies? How about kids actually do their work themselves?