Grammarly Removed From School Wi-Fi
Samantha Sun || COPY EDITOR
Grammarly, an artificial intelligence (AI) powered writing assistant that many students used to fix grammar and spelling, has been removed and can no longer be accessed via the school Wi-Fi.
To ensure compliance with federal laws and state regulations, Massachusetts requires school districts to have a signed Student Data Privacy Agreement (DPA) with vendors handling student information, such as Grammarly. “It came to [our] attention that Grammarly’s product no longer complies with the DPA. The decision to discontinue student access to Grammarly was made in order to comply with federal and state requirements and protect student data privacy,” said Sarah Campbell, an Instructional Technology (IT) Facilitator.
Administrators, program coordinators, and IT department members collaborated to make the decision to remove Grammarly from the school Wi-Fi. Phil Anderson, another IT Facilitator, added that in addition to software complying with state and federal student DPA, it must also be approved by IT for security and compatibility, and be requested by program coordinators to help support students. Cost and performance are also factored in.
Many students and teachers have varying opinions on the matter. Senior Meghna Singh-Joglekar said, “I got Grammarly in middle school, and since then I have mostly used it for spelling and grammar [for] online worksheets and writing assignments.” Now that it has been removed, Singh-Joglekar said that it has made her work less efficient as Grammarly offers helpful suggestions.
“Grammarly can pick up on errors that other spell check tools can’t,” she explained.
Senior Maddox To commented something similar: “I think that it’s something that shouldn’t be banned because it’s very useful for checking grammar and avoiding proofreader’s illusions,” said To. According to the American Psychological Association, proofreader’s illusions are visual errors in which a misspelling, omission, extra letter, or transposition is overlooked. This is due to a cognitive process called top-down processing, in which the brain relies on context rather than the actual words or grammar. These simple typos caused by proofreader’s illusion can easily be patched up by Grammarly, To added.
On the other hand, Singh-Joglekar added that excessive red underlines can be bothersome when typing, especially when the suggestions aren’t necessary. While the removal has made it less efficient, she acknowledged that spellcheck on Google Docs is still a good tool that helps with grammar and spelling.
While Grammarly has its advantages, it also has points of contention. “In the past two years, the amount of students using generative AI has really taken off [and] these programs are detrimental to their learning and to their growth as students,” said Nicholas Rand, a history teacher and a member of the newly-formed AI committee.
The committee was formed earlier this year by Principal Jimmy D’Andrea. Around eight teachers have since joined voluntarily. During their meetings, they aim to fine-tune the academic dishonesty and AI guidelines in the handbook. Rand hopes that in the future, the committee will look into more AI policies, educate students on the matter, and provide a framework for educators on AI usage. While they did not take part in Grammarly’s removal, their committee stands as a starting point for future AI discussions in the academic setting.
“When [tools] move into suggesting sentence alterations or alternative language, that’s where it gets a little bit tricky,” said English teacher Rebecca D’Alise. Before, Grammarly operated similarly to spell check suggestions, but as AI has developed, Grammarly started adding more advanced features. The free version offers tone detectors, word choice, clarity, and basic sentence rewrites. Premium, the paid version, offers full-paragraph rewrites, generative prompts, enhanced vocabulary, and much more.
“I know that once you leave high school and college, the industry uses AI. But I think that there’s something about the process of writing and of having it be your authentic voice, especially at this age,” D’Alise said.
“You can always tell when students are using it because … it doesn’t line up with other writing samples they’ve done,” Rand added in agreement with D’Alise’s points. Rand questioned whether or not students can take true ownership for what they submit if it has been altered by Grammarly—it becomes a fine line between a student’s writing and AI’s writing.
“Writing is a painful process,” D’Alise admitted. She explained that it’s important for students to develop their own writing style and experiment. “We want you to be imperfect, to make all those mistakes, and learn how to be a better writer.”
