At the beginning of this semester, I noticed something changing in my classroom almost immediately.
Assignments that normally took students 30–45 minutes were suddenly being completed in under 10.
And honestly? I knew exactly what was happening.
So I told my students something that probably sounded strange coming from a teacher:
“I’m not going to fight the AI process.”
The Deal I Made With Them
I teach Dual Credit Anatomy and Physiology. These are smart kids. Good kids.
And the reality is, AI is not going away.
Students are going to use it. College students are using it. Businesses are using it.
The world has already changed.
So I made them a deal.
Use AI however you want on assignments if you choose. Homework. Study guides. Practice work. Fine.
But you better be ready for the tests.
Because eventually there comes a moment where no app, chatbot, or copied answer can sit in the chair for you.
Technology can assist learning. It cannot replace learning.
Then the Kidney Test Happened
Almost every student had scored near 100% on the chapter assignments and study guides.
On paper, it looked like they had mastered the material.
Then they bombed the exam.
I looked at them and said, “Isn’t it amazing that everyone suddenly became an expert on the homework but struggled when it was time to actually demonstrate understanding?”
The room got very quiet.
But this wasn’t a surprise.
They had been warned for three months.
Why This May Be the Most Valuable Lesson They Get
Because college — and life — eventually expose what you truly know.
You can have someone else do your work.
You can copy.
You can shortcut the process.
You can lean on AI every step of the way.
But eventually the results show up.
In the interview.
In the meeting.
In the presentation.
In the exam.
In the job performance.
In real life.
I’m Not Anti-AI
Not at all.
I actually think it’s one of the most powerful educational tools we’ve ever seen when used correctly.
But AI should enhance thinking, not replace it.
Because the danger isn’t that students use AI.
The danger is students believing they learned something simply because AI completed the task for them.
Those are two very different things.
The Good News
These are great kids.
And I think many of them learned a lesson far bigger than kidneys, nephrons, or urine production this week.
They learned that eventually, understanding still matters.
This story first appeared on Matt’s Substack. Read the original post — “When the Scores Didn’t Match the Learning” — and subscribe to the newsletter for short stories and practical lessons like this one every week.
