By William Einhorn
Stephen F Austin High School
One of the sections offered by the YMCA Youth and Government program in Texas is the State Affairs section. In the state affairs section, delegates from certain schools within the conference debate solutions to real-world problems within Texas. They spend months preparing speeches and proposals for the District Conference. Delegates will present their proposal to a committee, then the delegates will question the proposal, and then take a pro or con side of the
debate.
Elijah Galvan, from the Austin High School delegation, proposed his idea on the regulation of artificial intelligence in schools. He proposed to implement stronger punishments for AI usage to prevent it from happening again. Elijah strongly believes that the use of AI on school assignments greatly hinders learning for people in school, as well as lowers productivity and creativity. He said when asked about his personal viewpoint on AI, “I hate when I see my friends using it in school, because it makes me think they aren’t learning.” He also believes that making sure AI is not used in school helps prepare kids for the real world by giving them a
better education as well as a work ethic. He states, “Under these policies, students will grow to be more independent learners and stronger thinkers.” However, Elijah does believe that the use of AI can be helpful in some ways. He believes that using it as a brainstorming tool can be
useful, but it should never be used for an entire assignment.
Sadly, Elijah’s proposal failed to pass in the first meeting because he didn’t have a clear enough solution. However, he now has a second chance in his next meeting, and he plans to have his proposal pass. Elijah truly cares about his proposal and wants it to pass.
