If you used ChatGPT for your assignment, I knew and I may not have cared enough to do anything about it.

My theory is that ChatGPT uses grammar and sentence structure that has been geared towards white, middle class people. As I read 150 papers after Conference Week, I noticed a trend—far fewer of my students from historically wealthy communities were using ChatGPT, while my students from lower SES communities, English Language Learners, and students of color rarely ever used ChatGPT.<br><br>Some data to back that up - During parent teacher conferences, I asked every family about ChatGPT and their opinions on it. The white, middle class ones were mostly anti ChatGPT. I had one mother go on a whole rant about how if ChatGPT is what we allow school to be, she’ll take her kids out of school and homeschool them. <br><br>I asked if they use ChatGPT as a parent. The mom said yes, she uses it for her own schooling, work, and to help her kids with their schooling. At that point, I said that she was being hypocritical and that the school district really doesn’t care if your kids use ChatGPT. She got mad at me and complained to my principal, but my principal backed me up since I told her I was going to bring it up.<br><br>I had a student of color tell me, “If ChatGPT is available, I’m going to use it. I’m not good at English, but ChatGPT is. I’m going to use ChatGPT just like how my rich friends use their parents to help them with their homework.” Her paper was 90% ChatGPT and I knew it, but it was the first time I’d had her as a student and I wanted to see what she wrote on her own, so I just took her paper and gave her the points for turning it in.<br><br>TL;DR - I knew when my kids used ChatGPT, and if you were a student of color or low SES, I didn’t think you were cheating and I was happy to see you could write a good paper regardless of how you got there.