That’s the story in the Times Online. A computer program used to mark A level English exams marked Ernest Hemingway as less than average and said he should write with more care. It rated Churchill as below average and didn’t like William Golding, either.
This was a trial by the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors, and their Chief Executive said that he did not feel that the program was reliable at this point. The scary thing is that the article says that similar programs are in use in America and some students have learned to “crack the code” and write in a style that the computer likes.
Well, just because Hemingway received poor marks doesn’t mean anything. He isn’t a “good” writer if the criteria for “good” is using complex grammar. Any literate person knows that his style is short and staccato.
Anyway, any test that uses computers for grading essays is obviously crap…as most standardized tests are.