Rubrics Kill Creativity

I have a big beef with rubrics.  It feels to me like the whole arena of education, including higher education has gone rubric-crazy!  They make rubrics for everything.  I can imagine them making a rubric on how to go to the toilet.  But seriously, I am only partly kidding.  It is as if they do not trust someone's ability to anything of their own accord.  How could they possibly do a project, write a paper, or even answer a question without giving them a series of discrete rules on a checklist to follow.

I call the use of rubrics the "paint by number" approach.  Instead of someone writing or creating from their own inspiration, they are required to follow a list of inconsequential minutia.  And the use of points...4 points for this, 2 points for that.  How many points is that worth?  I can't take it. 

Some may say, this is the way to make sure students have required elements.  But in my opinion it is a distraction.  Instead of allowing ideas to flow creatively from within, the person is looking at a list and trying to match responses to someone elses expectations.

Furthermore, what is asked for on rubrics is mostly irrelevant.  For example, Use correct grammar and punctuation, (4 points) versus, many errors in grammar and punctuation (0 points).  Really?  I feel my IQ drop everytime I read a rubric. 

So if I follow the rubric, does that mean I have created something beautiful?  I doubt it.  If I followed the rubric, it means I did what the teacher asked.  Not that I dug down into my soul and allowed beauty to flow forth.

Completing the rubric takes away personal responsibility. I can say I did the task. I don't have to be afraid I "did it wrong".  You have to give me a top grade because I completed all your demands. There is also a kind of unspoken pressure created by the rubric.  The pressure to follow the "rules".  

To be creative, you should be willing to break the rules.  To be creative you should follow your own inner ideas.  Creativity is inspired action.  It comes from a place unknown.  We want to allow students the chance to enjoy this experience of creativity.

All of this being said, I came across an article today put out by High Tech High Grads, and it shows a way of doing rubrics right.  The student is actually involved in creating the rubric, and so it draws their attention inwards towards their own personal goals and beliefs.  It is fantastic.  Please watch!