Long Beach City College should not make artificial intelligence a normal part of graded classwork because it can weaken the purpose of college learning.
LBCC students come to class to build real skills in writing, research, communication, critical thinking and problem-solving. If AI completes those tasks for students, then the assignment may be finished, but the student may not actually be learning.
This issue matters specifically at LBCC because students are preparing for transfer, certificates, associate degrees and future careers. Classes at LBCC are supposed to show what students can understand and do on their own.
When AI is used to write essays, answer discussion posts or complete homework, it becomes unclear whether the work belongs to the student or the machine.
LBCC’s own Student Learning Outcomes explain that students should gain “knowledge, skills, abilities and values” from their courses. That connects directly to the AI issue because students cannot fully build those skills if a program is doing the thinking or writing for them.
One major problem is academic honesty. LBCC’s Academic Integrity page explains that plagiarism means “claiming someone else’s work or ideas as your own without giving credit,” and it says plagiarism violates the Student Code of Conduct.
If a student submits AI-generated work as their own, it creates the same kind of problem because the student is taking credit for work they did not fully create.
LBCC’s Standards of Student Conduct also mentions that cheating, plagiarism and other academic dishonesty goes against the student conduct.
This matters because when students use AI on a smaller scale, it can be easier for them to get away with it. A student can ask a chatbot to write a paragraph for them or change a few words, and then submit it as original work.
Even undetectable changes like these are still cheating and plagiarism.
AI would especially hurt writing-heavy classes at LBCC. English, journalism, communication studies, philosophy, psychology and ethnic studies all require students to explain ideas in their own words. If AI writes the outline, body paragraphs, or conclusion, students lose practice building their own voice.
AI can also hurt students in career and transfer programs at LBCC. Students need to leave the college ready for universities, workplaces, internships and real responsibilities. If students depend on AI too much, they may struggle when they have to write, speak, solve problems or make decisions without help.
Another issue is fairness inside LBCC’s classrooms. Some students may have paid AI tools, while others may only have free tools or may not use AI at all. That creates an unfair classroom where not every student is completing work under the same conditions, because they don’t all have access to the same AI resources.
AI detection tools are not a good enough solution for LBCC either. Stanford researchers found that AI detectors can be unreliable and may wrongly flag writing from non-native English writers as AI-generated. This matters for a diverse campus like LBCC because students should not be falsely accused when writing in their own style.
A better solution to combat AI would be more in-class writing, rough drafts, outlines, research notes, oral presentations and reflection paragraphs.
These assignments would make LBCC students show how they built their work from beginning to end. They would also help professors see a student’s real progress instead of only seeing a final product.
LBCC already has stronger academic solutions than AI through its student support services. The college has Student Success Centers that help students with writing and reading, ESL, math, science and multidisciplinary tutoring.
If students are struggling, LBCC should guide them toward real human support instead of letting AI replace the learning process.
LBCC should create clear rules that AI is not allowed on graded assignments unless a professor gives direct permission for a specific lesson.
The college can still teach students about AI as a topic, but it should not allow AI to replace student work in regular classes.
Keeping AI out of graded classwork would protect academic honesty, fairness and real learning at Long Beach City College.
