How an alogrithm can unfairly dash hopes of young – Yorkshire Post Letters

ALGORITHMS can be an ass. I empathise with those headteachers who have just seen some of their most aspiring and hardworking students’ hopes dashed because of the crass handling of A-level results.

It must be even more galling for heads of schools in some of the more deprived inner city areas.

Some years ago, I remember marking a university student’s piece of work against an algorithm that I had devised for a course work project.

According to my algorithm, this particular student’s work was a fail. But having slept on the mark I eventually awarded the student a distinction. On reflection the work, judged by industry standards, was simply brilliant.

It was a lesson to me that algorithms don’t always give an accurate reflection of a student’s progress through university, nor do they capture the dedication and the hard work students put into their studies and the progress they make.

The student went on to graduate with a first class honours degree, won the best newcomer of the year – judged by a chartered professional body – and set up a leading award-winning consultancy which now employs 30 people.

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James Mitchinson

Editor