Muhammad Rizwan, who graduated from Seckinger in 2024 and goes to Emory University, echoed much of what Mr. Schrage said: There was a lot of A.I. where you would expect it in, say, robotics classes, but not much of it elsewhere. In language-arts classes, he said, teachers made the kids write essays in class by hand to prevent them from cheating by using ChatGPT.
Mr. Rizwan explained that teachers (whom he described as “amazing”) still had to meet the county’s standards, and teachers were supposed to tweak those standards to add an A.I. component. “Would the teachers really follow this? Not really, but was it expected of them? Yes,” said Mr. Rizwan, who is an anthropology and human biology major on the pre-med track. He said some of the teachers seemed almost offended by the incursion of chatbots.
Is there proof that incorporating A.I., even if it is not ubiquitous, is helping prepare Seckinger students for the world? By the county’s own measures, only 38.4 percent of Seckinger graduates are “college ready,” which means they took the ACT and SAT, and met a selected group of benchmarks; an additional 19.4 percent complete a career, technical and agricultural education pathway. Seckinger underperforms other high schools in the county with similar socioeconomic profiles on both metrics.
In fairness to Seckinger, it is new, and since there is no clear definition of A.I. literacy, it would be difficult to independently assess how well versed its graduates are in the technology. When I asked Bernard Watson, the interim chief engagement officer for Gwinnett County schools, about the comparison with other nearby schools, he pointed out that Seckinger’s graduation rate, at over 95 percent, is among the highest in the district, and he said that is an example of strong student engagement.
I also asked why so many students and parents felt there wasn’t very much A.I. in the curriculum when the cluster labels itself as A.I.-focused. “When we talk about being ‘A.I. ready,’ we understand that some may assume we’re just talking about new software or coding. In reality, our focus is much more human. We’re prioritizing ‘durable skills’ that machines can’t replicate — like creative problem solving, ethical thinking and collaborative leadership,” Mr. Watson said in an email. He added that on some days the school may look traditional, but teachers are always looking for new ways to infuse Seckinger’s A.I. framework into their lessons.