Making essay public compromises fairness in marking procedure

"Life in the tree", an essay that fetched a student full marks in this year's college entrance examination, or gaokao, has assumed a life of its own, as the controversy arising out of an examiner violating grading rules by disclosing and commenting on the exam paper refuses to die down.

Some have criticized Chen Jianxin, an associate professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Zhejiang University and the group leader for scoring the compositions in this year's gaokao in Zhejiang province, for making the essay public; they said it violates the exam's confidentiality clause.

Li Weishu, a retired media professional from Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, publicly reported Chen to the Ministry of Education and the Zhejiang Education Examinations Authority, saying it was improper for Chen to provide tutorial classes on essay writing or publish essay reference books in his capacity as group leader for scoring the compositions.

The Zhejiang Education Examinations Authority responded by restricting Chen from participating in future gaokao grading. Relevant authorities will investigate other issues reported by the public.

Whether Chen violated the rules by publishing reference books on how to write high-scoring essays and providing extracurricular tutorial classes is the subject of the authorities' investigation, but undoubtedly he should not have made an examinee's essay public.

There are some who feel making the essay public will help other students learn, but the idea here is to safeguard fairness. Although there are set standards, the markers' personal choice does influence the marking process and it is not always objective.

Now that it has been made public, the model essay will influence many to cater to the marker's taste, resulting in unfairness in future exams. Given that the exam decides many people's future, the need to safeguard its fairness cannot be overemphasized.