Note: This article was first published on Bridging Meaning, my first attempt at Substack.
A recent post in a faculty Facebook group stopped me in my tracks. Someone had shared a new AI-powered grading tool designed to help instructors draft feedback for students. Predictably, the comments lit up.
One professor wrote:
“Feedback is my job, not something I want to outsource.”
Another added:
“This whole concept of outsourcing your primary reason for existing in a job is reprehensible.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Not because I disagree entirely—but because I’ve heard this all before.
I imagine similar outrage when typewriters replaced pens:
“I refuse to outsource my handwriting to a machine!”
Or when calculators appeared:
“If I let a device do my math, what will become of me?”
Or when computers entered classrooms:
“Real teachers don’t need screens.”
The irony is, every generation of educators seems to believe that using new tools somehow dilutes the purity of their profession. But the tools have never been the point. The purpose has.
As educators, our job isn’t to grade—it’s to facilitate learning. To help students ask better questions. To guide them in searching for answers, testing ideas, and communicating what they discover in meaningful ways.
If a tool—AI or otherwise—can save me time on the repetitive mechanics of feedback so that I can spend more time being human with my students, then that’s not outsourcing. That’s stewardship.
I don’t believe AI is going to replace us anytime soon. But it might just help us focus on the parts of teaching that matter most: mentoring, motivating, and creating meaning.
So no, I won’t “outsource my job” to AI. But I also won’t pretend my job is typing comments into a box. My job is to inspire learning—and if a tool gives me more time to do that, I’ll use it gratefully.
Because the real work of education has never been about grading. It’s about cultivating curiosity and helping others learn to make meaning in a complex world.
And if that means my AI helps me teach more like a human—I’m okay with that.
Teaching isn’t about grading—it’s about creating meaning. And I’ll use any tool that helps me do more of that.
Note: I used ChatGPT to help shape this piece—because practicing what I preach means using the tools available. Every thought and turn of phrase is my own; the AI just helped me get there faster (and with fewer typos).