Isn't there a P != NP element to this? Doing the work is hard. Checking it is not.
If a student honestly attempted a problem and failed, diagnosing the failure may be worth the professor's time, but given the bunchiness of undergrad (and frankly, any junior learning) mistake varieties, chances are the TA can identify the issue as well.
At least this is about math where there is usually a single right answer. For things like English where the question is, did you get the right points? There's should be debate over even what is the right points in any large work. And so if you're convincing in your argument of what is the important points, you can pass homework.
Edit, fix autocorrect
Multiple choice?
> not interested so much in did you get the right answer as did you follow the right techniques
A student honestly attempting math problems, if it’s a well-designed problem, shouldn’t be able to get multiple answers right with wrong methods.
> For things like English where the question is, did you get the right points?
I’d say a professor should be grading English essays. But a TA can grade short answers, e.g. did you grasp the theme or understand an extratextual reference.
Answers are proofs, not numbers, and there is a ton of nuance, and it is incredibly hard to grade.
It's not as easy as judging the quality of a computer program written as an assignment.