English Language Arts: Argumentative Writing (TEKS.ELA.9-12.11.C) Practice Test

Texas should adopt statewide guidelines that permit generative AI as a scaffold for learning under teacher oversight, rather than allow district-by-district bans that spur inequity. When tools are banned, affluent students simply access them at home, while others are left experimenting in the shadows or falling behind. AI can model revision, provide multilingual support, and free teachers to focus on higher-order tasks. Critics warn of plagiarism and skill atrophy. Those are genuine risks, but blanket prohibition often breeds workarounds and confusion. A coherent policy can clarify when AI is a drafting aid and when it is off-limits. Moreover, Texas prides itself on innovation; preparing students for emerging tools is part of civic readiness. Some early reports suggest AI feedback improves writing, yet evidence remains mixed. The state should move cautiously but not freeze. Clear guardrails, transparency, and teacher training are better than a patchwork of inconsistent, punitive rules.

Hill Country communities increasingly face a hard trade-off: private groundwater pumping that sustains homes and ranches versus spring flows that anchor local ecosystems and tourism. Texas law recognizes groundwater as a property right, yet the public also depends on aquifers for rivers, habitat, and drought resilience. A uniform statewide cap would ignore local geology, while laissez-faire pumping invites a race to the bottom during dry years. A more balanced approach is tiered pumping limits administered by local groundwater districts, triggered by drought stages and paired with monitoring. This would not end pumping; it would pace withdrawals when aquifers are most stressed. Skeptics worry such limits could be arbitrary or punish small landowners. Those concerns matter. Still, doing nothing risks dry springs and neighbor-versus-neighbor conflict. Texas can protect both working lands and water heritage if it calibrates rules carefully and offers flexibility where use is efficient and accountable.