No Robos, Not Ever!

For this activity (which will help prepare you for the synthesis portion of the AP exam), you will evaluate six different sources pertaining to the use of robo-readers. Five of the six sources will be provided to you; the sixth can be accessed through a link below. In a well written blog post, you will take a clear stance on the use of robo-readers in evaluating student writing, synthesizing at least three of the sources into your argument (relying on both paraphrasing and direct quotation of the sources).

I do not agree with this "robo-reader" idea. I think too many students have too many different thoughts, to all be judged by one source, programmed in one particular way.  "Sure an automation can figure out if a student has done a math or science problem by reading symbols and ticking off a checklist (A)". But the language of literature is so unique and personable, how can a machine grade whether or not  you stand correctly? Surely grammar and spellcheck can used to grade the writing, but those options are already available to us students, before we hand in our completed assignments (essays).

Next, I believe that this system is being created because test administrators/ teachers are becoming more and more lazy. If you do not want to do your job, which includes grading a student's work, then maybe a different occupation would be more suitable...? "E-Rater, can grade 16,000 essays in 20 seconds(B)". "Grading essays, as any school teacher can tell you, is among the most time-consuming parts of the job. But is it a task that could be outsourced to a robot (D)?" I think that teachers that assign these essays, or the ones who look over the standardized tests essays, should be paid less if they are using this software. Nobody added in the task of grading papers into the job description of a teacher after they received their degree. It has been a part of their job from the very start. I think this is just adding to the laziness of our society. They say if you don't use it, you lose it...well what happens when we start depending on technology for everything? Will we all be dumb and the computers smarter than us?

Lastly, it seems the flaws involved in this piece out due the reasons to even use this technology. The human mind was developed so that we may critique other's work and benefit or learn from those corrections and our mistakes. This is not even worth grading though if the facts are purely incorrect, "E-Rater doesn't care if you say the War of 1812 started in 1945 (B)."There is no point in even participating in this essay if a student can carelessly make his/or her way through the entire thing. The students would be creating structured filler without making sense of what they really need to talk about. I wouldn't waste the time even setting up this program or paying for it if students can get away with this non-sense. How would this be preparing them for their future?

I clearly am very against the idea of these robots taking over for our teachers, who are suppose to be highly-educated, being able to grade these essays efficiently. I think this system will take away a student's ability to think "outside-of-the-box", create even more indolent adults in our society, and make possible essays, which state incorrect facts, able to obtain a higher score than students who actually provide correct facts. I surely hope none of my future essays are graded with this technology, not because I am a bad write, but because I am skeptic of this technology's abilities.