How do I guide my child in practicing integrity when writing with AI tools? The rise of AI in education offers both promise and peril, especially for families striving to raise students who think deeply, write honestly, and live virtuously.
In this second article of the three-part series, Classical Conversations founder Leigh Bortins shares how the classical model equips families to embrace AI without compromising truth, virtue, or ownership.
With years of homeschool experience and study of new technologies, Leigh shares practical ways tutors, parents, and students can work together to raise writers who think for themselves—even in the age of AI.
Practicing Writing Integrity with AI in Classical Conversations: A Partnership of Tutors, Parents, and Students
By Leigh Bortins with AI
As artificial intelligence tools increasingly become part of the modern educational landscape, Classical Conversations (CC) communities must thoughtfully navigate their role in shaping the next generation of communicators.
At the heart of the CC mission is a commitment to classical education, which values truth, virtue, and personal responsibility. These values extend directly into how students approach writing—especially in an era when AI can generate polished text with a few clicks.
Practicing writing integrity in a CC setting requires intentional collaboration between tutors, parents, and students. Together, they can embrace AI as a tool for learning while upholding the integrity and ownership that classical education demands.
Understanding Writing Integrity in the Classical Model
In Classical Conversations, writing is more than a mechanical task—it is a means of cultivating wisdom, clarity, and virtue. From the earliest copywork assignments to advanced Challenge essays and research papers, students are encouraged to internalize truth, wrestle with ideas, and express their own thoughts with clarity and grace. Writing integrity, therefore, is not simply about avoiding plagiarism; it is about becoming a person who pursues truth with humility and communicates it honestly.
AI writing tools challenge this process. While they can assist in organizing ideas, improving grammar, and even summarizing content, they can also tempt students to substitute generated content for their own thinking. This creates a risk: that students might appear articulate without doing the work of becoming articulate. CC families and tutors must guard against this by helping students use AI as a support—not a substitute—for original thought and expression.
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The Role of Tutors: Modeling and Guiding Integrity
Classical Conversations Tutors are uniquely positioned to lead by example. As mentors, they set the tone for what writing integrity looks like in community settings. If parents or students have questions about AI, Tutors can utilize the classical skills of learning to help them think deeply and make wise decision about the use of this technology. Parents should help students understand how AI works, what it can offer, and where its use becomes inappropriate. Tutors can offer support to parents and facilitate practical discussions with students on the moral and ethical merits of AI in education.
Practical Tips for Tutors for AI Integrity
- Highlight prewriting tasks.
Include brainstorming, outlining, and other early-stage writing activities to ensure students engage thoughtfully from the start. - Incorporate oral presentations.
Ask students to present their essays or arguments aloud. Speaking to peers fosters accountability and reinforces the writing process. - Facilitate peer discussions and feedback.
Create opportunities for students to review and respond to each other’s work, reinforcing that writing is a process, not just a product. - Compare AI-generated and student-written work.
Review both versions together to highlight the value of the student’s voice, creativity, and personal insight. - Demystify AI.
Discuss what AI can and cannot do in writing to help students use it appropriately and understand its limitations. - Encourage self-awareness.
Help students reflect on their own growth by showing how valuable their unique thinking and expression is compared to AI outputs.
The Role of Parents: Building Character and Habits at Home
Parents are the primary teachers in Classical Conversations and play a crucial role in cultivating writing integrity. Since much of the work happens at home, parents are often the first to observe how students interact with AI tools. It’s essential for parents to foster a culture of honesty, ownership, and diligence around writing.
This begins with open conversations about what it means to be a truthful writer. Parents can explain that writing with integrity means thinking deeply, struggling through revisions, and being proud of one’s original work. They can share personal examples—perhaps from their own academic or professional lives—of when doing the hard work paid off.
Setting routines that prioritize the writing process is also important. Parents can help their children schedule time for planning, drafting, editing, and reflection. If students know their parents care more about learning than grades or outcomes, they’ll feel more freedom to be honest about their challenges.
When AI is used, parents can guide its application while encouraging their children to make final decisions independently. They can support their students when using AI to:
- Explore ideas
- Clarify grammar
- Simulate audience feedback
Additionally, parents can monitor writing integrity by reviewing drafts, asking questions about the student’s ideas, and requiring oral explanations of written work. If a student cannot explain the reasoning or content in their paper, it may be a sign that too much reliance was placed on AI. These discussions don’t need to be punitive—they can be opportunities for coaching and growth.
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The Role of Students: Developing Ownership and Discernment
Ultimately, writing integrity is a choice each student must make. Tutors and parents provide structure and accountability. The student must develop the internal conviction that honesty and growth are more valuable than shortcuts.
Students in Classical Conversations are well-equipped for this task. Through the classical skills of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric, they are trained to think deeply, ask questions, and form sound arguments. These skills are the antidote to passive AI dependence. When students are encouraged to take pride in their work and to view writing as a way to participate in truth-seeking, they begin to understand the purpose of writing beyond grades or performance.
Students can practice discernment by asking themselves questions:
- Did I write this in my own words?
- Do I understand the argument I’m making?
- Can I defend this idea in a discussion?
These kinds of reflections help students become more self-aware and responsible.
Students can also benefit from keeping writing journals or portfolios that document their progress. Seeing their own development over time builds confidence and reinforces the value of original work. It also gives them something AI can never offer: a living record of their own intellectual journey.
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Working Together: A Unified Culture of Integrity
For writing integrity to thrive in a Classical Conversations community the roles of parents, and students must work in harmony. Tutors model and guide, parents support and shape, and students choose and grow. Together, they create a culture where truth is valued over convenience, where tools like AI are used wisely, and where every written word reflects a sincere mind and a developing soul.
Here are some collaborative practices to strengthen this partnership:
- Set Shared Expectations: At the beginning of each year, tutors and parents can outline expectations for writing and AI use. Clear, shared guidelines help eliminate confusion and promote consistency.
- Host Ethics Workshops: Community discussions or workshops on writing integrity and AI can engage families in thinking about these issues together. Bringing real examples and encouraging student voices makes these events especially meaningful.
- Celebrate Process, Not Just Product: Displaying drafts, journals, or reflections in community events helps reinforce the importance of the writing journey.
- Use AI Transparently: If AI tools are used, students can annotate or footnote their contributions to show how AI supported their thinking without replacing it.
Conclusion: AI Writing with Integrity
Artificial intelligence is not going away. But neither are the virtues that Classical Conversations seeks to instill—truth, wisdom, diligence, and honor. By intentionally working together, tutors, parents, and students can ensure that writing integrity remains strong, even in a digital world. With guidance and grace, CC communities can lead the way in showing how timeless values and modern tools can coexist—training students to write with clarity, conviction, and character.
Learn more about AI and Education with these resources:
- Who’s Really Thinking? AI and the Future of Education-Part One
- AI and Education: Training the Mind Before Using the Machine- Part Three
- Listen to Leigh discuss AI and more with podcaster Kap Chatfield
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