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Hemingway ran on horribly in his sentences. Horribly. And the quote you mentioned from Churchill was from a *speech,* which to my mind follows a different set of expectations from the audience.

Though we're agreed that computers are entirely too frequently and heavily relied upon. I myself have just received a proposed IEP for my non-verbal son which contained the name and diagnosis of another child. (Yes. It did.) Cut and paste, baybeee... and the nerve of it all was that the school wanted me to sign off on it. I only wish I were kidding!

I was surprised when we piloted one of these systems in the classroom with students -- a lot of them LOVED it. They got instant feedback on their writing instead of waiting a week or getting somewhat dubious editing from a peer. This is from ambitious urban high school students who will take all the advice and attention they can get, even if it is artificial, apparently.

Not that I'm necessarily a fan in principle, but sometimes technologies that seem completely bogus on the surface can have surprising application and resonance in the classroom. And vice versa!

I think the NY Times ran a piece some time ago where they had someone analyze scores from the writing portion of the SAT. He could reliably (but not perfectly) call out a grade for a writing sample viewing it from across the room, because length was the main factor in the grading.

Will they get a computer like the HAL-9000 ("Hello, Dave") that really enjoys working with humans? Maybe then we could talk. What could go wrong?

Mrs. C--

It's true that a speech is distinct from a piece of expository writing. Still, I can see instances where repetition as a rhetorical figure could be very effective in an essay. My larger concern is that the most talented writers who go out on limbs could lose points under such a system. I'm more concerned by the computer's desire to replace "the might of the German army" with "the might have the German army." That's a pretty big limitation. Exceptional writers may be the ones who fall through the cracks.

Tom--You make a fair point. Clearly there was a teacher involved, however. A particularly good writer who feels cheated by the program could go to the teacher and get a human judgment. Does the same sort of thing happen in a more high-stakes environment? Thanks, by the way, for reminding me about the brighter side of this particular technology. There are great prospects for assessment systems--built in to serious games or other platforms--that collect rich data and make them immediately available to teachers and students.

David--Thanks for reminding me that it's not necessarily the computers here that are at fault--or the most limiting factor. (I wouldn't want to make Hal angry.)

Some dream that school will nurture creativity, while many others would happily settle for uniformity. Will there be a scantron for poetry one day? Pearson? Anyone?

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

Women and men (both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed (but only a few)
and down they forgot as up they grew