So I started a new test scoring project Monday. The bad: The room boss, whom I've had once before, is not turning out to be the person I thought she was. I get the feeling people in the room don't respect her, and good reason. When you actually yell at a person to not talk while she's talking, like she's in an elementary school teacher, you kind of lose me, and I don't care how rude that person was. Beyond that, she seems both blunt and clueless when it comes to instruction. She often stumbles over phrases and frequently loses her place when it comes to reviewing test essays and notes that she wrote down. And yet when she tries to answer a question, the tone in her unequivocal retort is such bullshit that some of the people I am sitting right next to are exasperated at how she acts. I have nothing personal against her (at least not yet), but such musings have to be reflected on her performance review.
The other implication that she told us when we started still bugs the shit out of me, but at least she was honest. She told us that the aim of these scores we're giving to these tests was, to put it in her words, "help our replacement." These scores are going to be given to an artificial intelligence algorithm so that it can ... man, typing these words hurt more than I thought it would ... grade essays so that we humans will be out of a job.
A part of me still doesn't fucking believe this. (And by the way, I don't really understand why the room boss had to say that, or at least could have not said it so matter-of-factly. Read the room, for God's sake!) I really don't know how, for example, a robot can understand all the nuances and meanings of a kid's words, phrases, sentences and ideas, I don't care how smart it is. Besides, will a state's Department of Education really rely on the judgement of a computer to tell how good of a test-taker a parent's child is? We may be humans for hire, but better that than a soulless, faceless program. Finally, if humans can't grade tests, shit, what will we do for work?
At the risk of sounding naive, that last question may be a silly one. There seems to be more and more standardized tests states are administering to kids in order to evaluate their aptitude and the ability of their schools to teach children. Both companies I work for say that they're getting more and more contracts for projects. That massive project at the Mall Of America was new, and with a few hiccups lasted more than a month; and that I am actually working on a project in mid-July, way past the usual test scoring season, is proof that leads me to believe that we can't be losing work in the near or even immediate future (even if this particular project is, theoretically, going to end because an algorithm will take our place very soon). But robots are taking everyone's job; a person, especially one who doesn't have benefits attached to his job, can never be too sure.
One season at a time, I hope. Meanwhile I hope that someone, anyone, is going to bring in candy for the room. No one bought or brought anything for that plastic tub up front yesterday, and that's ridiculous. How can we get through reading the same essay for eight hours without some sugar?
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