Allysia Finley documents something I have been talking about for two decades. The title of her Wall Street Journal column says it all: “Yes, Children Really Are Getting Dumber.”

In the past, I have talked about the impact the pandemic and shutdown had on student learning. Although that is true, it is unlikely to be the primary cause. We had different levels of shutdowns between various countries. She documents that “scores fell in countries that kept schools mostly open.”

One important factor is classroom order. About one-third of students (on average) in developed countries reported that noise and disorder disrupted lessons. A significant percentage (29%) said classmates don’t listen to teachers. It is not surprising that students in countries with the most strict discipline (Japan, Taiwan, South Korea) experienced small or no learning declines.

The most important reason for educational decline is media. In the past, the concern was over smart phones and social media. Now the focus is on artificial intelligence. Nearly half of students in developed countries say they use chatbots every day.

Here is where we see a significant difference in performance. Students who do not use AI for writing text scored 28 points higher on average than those who use it almost every day. That is the equivalent to 1.5 school years.

AI is making it easier to succeed in school without doing the work and learning something. Nearly half (48%) of students in the Fordham study admitted to using AI to solve math problems, and more than a third (39%) used AI to summarize books so they didn’t have to read them.

Students are getting dumber, especially now that AI does much of the work for them.