“ I thank Sione for his response to my query regarding “Raw Marks and Plagiarism”.
My query was out of curiosity as I found it interesting that the “Raw Marks” system of assessment, could be responsible for the increase of plagiarism in Fiji and the low pass rate in the Tonga School Certificate examination, last year.
Sione’s argument, essentially, is that, in Fiji, there was a substantial increase in plagiarism when the Raw Marks system was introduced by their Ministry of Education, in 2015. Tonga uses the same system of assessment so plagiarism must be flourishing there too. So the low pass rate in the Tonga School Certificate examination last year, may be attributed to the use of the Raw Marks system.
With all due respect, that argument has flaws, for the following reasons:
• There is no evidence that the Raw Marks system is the primary cause of or a substantial contributing factor to the increase of plagiarism in Fiji;
• There is no evidence that Fiji, under the Raw Marks system, experiences similar low pass rates to that in Tonga, last year; and
• There is no evidence that plagiarism is a problem in Tonga and that it is on the rise after the introduction of the Raw Marks system in 2015.
In absence of the evidence stated above, it cannot be accepted that the premises are true. The conclusion may or may not be logical but it is definitely not sound.
Some very strong assertions are being made about the Raw Marks system and the low pass rate in the Tonga School Certificate last year without compelling evidence to support them. ”