Marks are the matter of past

Hello! I'm tremendously thankful for your answer. It goes without saying. Ok, let's start round number 3! ACCURACY. First of all, if there's no standard, a huge variety of marking criteria can be implemented for one particular subject to choose a proper mark. As such criteria are different, there's a possibility that marks given in accordance with different criteria can in turn differ one from another. If a standard marking criterion is chosen, still there's some other marking criteria. What shall we do with other possible variants? As we see, marking criteria on their part can be called subjective. Adding subjective teacher's opinion we get a subjective mark! Thus, accuracy is only RELATIV. THOM YORKE. I've chosen the names of both Thom Yorke and the song solely as an example for my example. I don't care about Thom's opinion and the song's content. Though I did not know about those Orwell references. Thank you for an interesting piece of information. Oops! I forgot to answer your question. Shall we reward any creativity? Yes, we shall. As long as the creativity follows a constructive track. I suggest another example. What would you do with a pupil who hacked an e-record-book and changed his and his classmates marks? PUNISHMENT. I'd like to begin with my sad Bulgakov experience. I just decided to crack the system and failed. You imply that marks encourage pupils to learn. Do you really think that my teacher encouraged me to read in that peculiar way? or maybe she rather encouraged me to obey? However, I remain convinced that marks are an instrument of punishment. Personal experience: You get 9 instead of 10 because you write a bad hand. (This marking criterion seems to be VERY interesting, isn't it?) What is more, marks are a reason for punishment. You probably don't know but in my country beating kids for a bad mark is a common practice for some parents. And what is more important marks are a reason for hate. There can be lots of possible variants. A student hates a teacher because of a bad mark. Classmates hate a fellow student because of a good mark. A student hates parents because he/she was beaten because of a bad mark. And what is the result? We surrounded by hate. Hate corrodes our souls like acid. In the upshot, students are tent to be neither good at school nor bad. They learn the "key" principles of life: "Be mediocre. Keep your head down. And they won't hate you." And what do we get in the end? Another beige member of the society? SUCCESS. Good marks do not equal success. In my country, for instance, mark do not matter actually. What is really important for an employer is that you managed to get a diploma and the goddamn communication strategies you use during the job interview. That's sad and funny at the same time - employer doesn't really care about your English Literature mark. Actually success is a relative concept. Even if you with all your excellent marks manage to get a good job with a sky-high salary it will not guarantee you a happy and successful life. Still, there's a chance that you'll work like an ox from your childhood on and die a lonely and miserable man. Besides, I would like to say a few words about CONDITIONS. For instance, you're a good student. But you're extremely nervous before your exam. You haven't slept during the night. You've drunk 2 cups of coffee. You're shaking like a frightened donkey. You're unable to cheat. I believe that factors influence your mark in a very unpleasant way, don't they? As a result, it is the most diligent students who get a low mark. Another example. You're an examiner. You sit the exam along with the student from 9am till 9pm. You're hungry. You're tired. You're unsatisfied with your life. You want to kill a student who said that the Vikings had came from Spain. I imply that here we have another important factor we shouldn't ignore. I could have mentioned about parents practicing BLACKMAIL (if you get 10, I'll buy you a brand new i-Phone) and about EDUCATIONAL HANGOVER (when you can forget about the excretory system of the amphibians because you've already got 10). Marks have a great number of downsides. Therefore I think that marks such as letters and numbers are the matter of past because they represent a superficial and one-sided assessment and discourage students to learn. I advocate for assessment system improvement. Thank you for your attention! Good luck!