Hey, the computer gave me an A for my essay

Today, I read an article entitled [Hey, the computer gave me an A for my essay]. It is basically about the computer marking system that some schools like Crescent Girls' Secondary have adopted. Firstly, hundreds of essays are fed into the computer to 'train' it to tell the difference between a bad essay and a good one. Then, teachers setting assignments will choose from a list of topics stored in the database of the computer to give to the students who will write their essays and then feed them into the computer which will grade the essays according to their content, style of writing, grammar and spelling. The software also points out mistakes and tells the students how to correct them.

There are pros and cons in this system. The pros are that mistakes, especially in grammar and spelling, will never be missed and therefore the student can learn and correct more mistakes. A whole load of work is also taken of the teacher's shoulders.

However, the cons are that the topics students are tested are likely to revolve around those stored int he database of the computer and nothing more. Moreover, readers of stories everyone aspires to write are humans, live beings with feelings. A story needs to be able to touch a reader, or make the reader furious, or get the reader excited. Only then is it considered a good story as it can engage the reader. However, how hard one may try, one is never able to 'engage' a computer, and this is the most important point of writing a good story. Therefore, I think that teachers are more suited to mark students' essays as they are humans and students are given a chance to attempt to engage them before they take on the feelings and emotions of the world with their powerful weapons- their books which they have written.