The Aporia · College profs go gloriously old school to fight disturbing new trend sweeping schools

College profs go gloriously old school to fight disturbing new trend sweeping schools

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CA Post Editorial Board. (2026, October 26). College profs go gloriously old school to fight disturbing new trend sweeping schools. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/26/opinion/college-profs-go-old-school-to-fight-disturbing-trend-sweeping-schools/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Quick Summary

A math professor at UC Berkeley, who won the Fields Medal in 1998, is responding to students using AI to complete online exams by reverting to traditional teaching methods that encourage genuine learning. The article highlights the concern that increased use of AI tools during tests has led to higher average scores but potentially less actual understanding among students. It emphasizes the importance of developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills independently rather than relying on technology to generate answers.

Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-27, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Richard Borcherds, a renowned mathematician and Fields Medal winner from UC Berkeley, has changed his grading methods due to widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) in student work. Starting in Fall 2026, he bases students' grades primarily on in-person exams that prohibit the use of electronic devices. This shift comes after Borcherds stopped grading homework for correctness, citing the difficulty in distinguishing between AI-generated and human submissions. According to The California Post, Borcherds noted that online exam scores have increased significantly but are now considered unreliable as many students rely on AI for answers.

Written for “Professors Fight Student CheatingOldData School Methods” on 2026-10-27, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Why this leaning score

The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.50, but every quote it verified points right, so the score is not published.

Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.

Leaning score withheld for article 108904: score contradicts its own evidence · logged 2026-10-27

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

UC Berkeley prof who quit grading student’s homework deploys new tactic to catch out cheaters: ‘Waste of time’ same event · 95%

New York Post

⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 4% hedged 1 of 25 📰 publisher trust 66

“Both articles describe the same professor at UC Berkeley using in-person exams without electronic devices due to concerns about AI-generated work, indicating it's the same specific incident.”

UC Berkeley professor refuses to grade his students’ homework after noticing worrying trend: ‘No point’ different event · 30%

New York Post

⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 17% hedged 3 of 18 📰 publisher trust 66

“While both articles discuss a professor's concerns about AI and grading, they describe different aspects of the issue and do not clearly refer to the same specific incident.”

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

0 of 16 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

withheld

no quote in the article backed the model's score

Publisher signals

66/100

New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Education

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Who wrote this

CA Post Editorial Board

64 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction

🔮 Instead, it will only link a couple of towns in the Central Valley, at a cost of over $200 billion, by 2032 at the earliest.

2026-10-26 · assertive framing · Steve Hilton has the only good idea for California’s failed fake train dreams

🔮 And if the 20,000 number — which Essayli called “the floor” — turns out to be to accurate, that would be an even more explosive revelation about how far our elections have fallen.

2026-10-25 · assertive framing · Despite Rob Bonta’s dastardly push to stop voter ID, there’s a simple way to get it passed

🔮 And parents, and not schools, may be left to grapple with years of fallout from a kid’s “exploration” of gender dysphoria.

2026-10-24 · assertive framing · Feds put California school districts’ ‘TMI’ student questionnaires on notice

🔮 The socialist city councilwoman, who’s running to “fail up” to the mayor’s office, has proposed a new plan that has the potential to incur new, hampering costs on a city already suffering from a $1 billion budget deficit.

2026-10-23 · assertive framing · The real reason ‘Rubber-stamp’ Raman wants more wildly expensive public toilets

🔮 They exploited the most vulnerable — so they could live large on taxpayers’ money.

2026-10-22 · assertive framing · California’s $2 billion medical fraud shame hid in plain sight — all we had to do was look

🔮 When will Gavin Newsom and his party learn that fraud doesn’t pay?

2026-10-22 · assertive framing · California only has itself to blame for Medicaid funding cuts due to fraud

🔮 So when Bratton says Nithya Raman would be making a terrible mistake if she were to follow through on her campaign pledge to fire current LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, that ought to count.

2026-10-21 · assertive framing · LA voters, and Nithya Raman, should listen to top cop’s warning

🔮 The feds called “Operation Protect the Vote” the largest voter fraud bust in state history. And it underscores a basic truth in California: Fraud of all kinds has run amok for years; it needs to end; and state voters in November would do well to support Prop. 39, the Voter ID act — to help ensure that at least part of it does.

2026-10-20 · assertive framing · Inside Democrats’ absurd push to downplay noncitizen voting and block Voter ID

🔮 But the state allocated $368.7 million to developers to build dense, low-income housing projects, without any guarantee fire victims would benefit.

2026-10-19 · assertive framing · State sends wildfire aid to low-income housing while fire victims fight for their homes

🔮 California education officials may pat themselves on the back for a 1% increase in math scores and a 0.5% increase in English scores.

2026-10-19 · assertive framing · California’s schools fail most kids year after year — the real definition of insanity

Wire or desk byline, not an individual reporter.

Also by CA Post Editorial Board

Steve Hilton has the only good idea for California’s failed fake train dreams

2026-10-26 · New York Post

Despite Rob Bonta’s dastardly push to stop voter ID, there’s a simple way to get it passed

2026-10-25 · New York Post

Feds put California school districts’ ‘TMI’ student questionnaires on notice

2026-10-24 · New York Post

The real reason ‘Rubber-stamp’ Raman wants more wildly expensive public toilets

2026-10-23 · New York Post

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 64 articles by CA Post Editorial Board →

Claims (16 extracted, 0 hedged)

“Online exams are now a waste of time as several students just use AI to answer the questions,” the math professor said. asserted

professor → use → questions

“I notice the average score increases a lot in online exams.” asserted

score → notice → exams

That certainly adds up: As AI has grown more prevalent and students (and others) have learned how to use it, it’s become easy, and tempting, to outsource the hard work of thinking. asserted

it → add → thinking

That temptation can be especially strong in college, where students feel the pressure to compete with others who embrace AI along with the pressure to earn high grades. asserted

who → feel → grades

So it’s good to see professors like Borcherds, who won the Fields Medal in 1998, install guardrails to help ensure genuine classroom learning. asserted

who → ’ → learning

Students still benefit from working out math (and other) problems on their own. asserted

Students → benefit → own

That’s how they acquire real-world skills, learn to actually derive the correct answers and develop the critical-thinking skills that are transferable to virtually all aspects of life. asserted

that → ’ → life

What if at some point AI’s not around to spit out an answer? asserted

AI → ’ → answer

Or what if the answer’s amiss and a deadline looms? asserted

deadline → ’ → ?

Students — and all people — should be able to think on their own. asserted

Students → think → own

In fact, all humans benefit from taking the time to learn the material, rather than plugging variables into a computer and then regurgitating the answer in a report or on a test. asserted

humans → benefit → test

Grasping the value of the learning process, even in a world of AI, is itself a worthy lesson. asserted

Grasping → grasp → AI

Yes, there’s a role for AI in life, work, play and even school, and it’s amazing to see the technology noodle, with some success already, some longstanding puzzles in math, science and medicine. asserted

technology → ’ → math

But as a society, we must ensure that the rise of AI does not mean the decline of the human brain. asserted

rise → ensure → brain

Toward that end, universities — whose traditional mission is teaching students how (not what) to think — have a key role to play. asserted

mission → teach → role

It’s true: Just because AI can do the work for you, doesn’t mean it should. asserted

it → ’ → you

College profs go gloriously old school to fight disturbing new trend sweeping schools

Quick Summary

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Claims (16 extracted, 0 hedged)