Thoughts on Marking Schemes

I realized that the marking scheme of this blog system is getting more detailed and precise as the course goes. Here, I am expressing my concern over this.

I used to think iEFX as a place where creativity is encouraged and ideas gets combined and improved synergetically. I hope it still is, but the use of detailed marking schemes to mark these blog posts are taking us away from these ideals. I grew up in a place where the education system sees the marking scheme as the holy grail, to the extent that "marking schemes are always right". In this system, everything that is not strictly adhered to the marking scheme are considered wrong. You and I know better, something not in the scheme is not necessarily wrong. No one believed energy is the same thing as mass when it was proved.

We do not want marking schemes to get in place which kills real innovative ideas, leaving behind only the exact same way of thinking for our next generation. This is a molding education system in which all sorts of people go in but everyone comes out looking the same. We don't want this because we value diversity.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

On the other end, marking schemes cannot reveal the true ability of a student. Why? Because these schemes can be reverse engineered. I can give you a similar marking scheme for any question in the world. I can tailor-made my answers to the marking schemes to ensure I get the maximum possible score I can have.

There are indeed courses that need marking schemes, like mathematics and sciences, which require precise technical skills and high accuracy together with professional notations in which students have to learn to communicate in that language (the language of physics, the language of mathematics). There are significantly clearer rights or wrongs in these subjects.

But not in iEFX, not in a course which "missing basics" are emphasized. Not in a course which is supposed to draw on the students' creativity.

Correct me if I am wrong on what I think iEFX is. I hope you don't make me regret joining iEFX.