Red Markers "Too Harsh" Schools Switch to Purple

The latest idiocy from a school system that seems to be only proficient at turning out idiots.

"If you see a whole paper of red, it looks pretty frightening," said Sharon Carlson, a health and physical education teacher at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Northampton. "Purple stands out, but it doesn't look as scary as red

When will the madness end. Zero tolerance for advil, suspensions for nail clippers and now this. Absolute and utter nonsense. What happens when purple becomes the new red and our children are frightened of it? Switch to black? Can I still say black??Read About the Morons

Having been a teacher of adults - red is a discouraged color simply because it is harder to read. Orange, light green, and yellow included in the don't use list. I know your post was about graded papers, buy just thought I'd add that.

The ink color on graded papers debate is hardly new. I remember hearing it back when I was in school. I could care less what ink color was used, it was the stickers I was after anyway

A worse problem is teachers overlooking problems and soft-grading many students to avoid the wrath of parents who think their children are perfect, or just to get the kid moved through. There are many excellent educators in this country who wouldn't think of it and take more crap that many of us could imagine, but a lot of underpaid, overworked ones that might consider it. Everyone is so super sensitive and PC these days, especially in schools, that it takes guts to come out and say a student isn't performing up to par and may need help outside the classroom. It's easier to just use purple ink.

Either way, and F (or whatever the low grade is) is an F and the child, teacher, and parents need to step up. A purple marker isn't gonna make the F seem less than it is. I think this would just discourage people from thinking that it is a big deal.

Making marks on a paper should not be done in a way that defaces the student's work, but in a way that corrects the learner without scolding him or her for making mistakes. Corrections only have to be visible, the color doesn't matter.

I think read is a good contrasting color (I did grade lots of homeworks in my day). I see nothing wrong with it. People who say it's scary are nuts.

Are we going to replace the red traffic lights with purple ones so as to not scare the drivers?

I'm pretty sure the color red has nothing to do with it, but how the teacher marks it. A small F is nothing compared to a large, gigantic, completely blown up out of proportion "FAILURE" taking up the whole sheet. Also, if the teacher wants to make the student feel bad about the F, then so be it. This will instill fear of getting another F in the student, thus lowering the chances of say, them not studying or not doing homework. I started last year with an F on a test, but not just any ordinary F, a whopping monstrous F that took up my whole sheet telling me how horribly I did, followed by a remark by the words of "STUDY!". I never got an F in that class again.

Actually, seeing red raises your blood pressure and people sleeping in red rooms often get insomnia. I think purple is much more pleasing to the eye. I would rather have my papers corrected in purple ink.

Read About the Morons

Oh please, they're just pens.

The reasons given on this board are all rational. The reasons cited by the people responsible for the change are considerably less so.

A mix of red and blue, the color purple embodies red's sense of authority but also blue's association with serenity, making it a less negative and more constructive color for correcting student papers, color psychologists said. Purple calls attention to itself without being too aggressive. And because the color is linked to creativity and royalty, it is also more encouraging to students.

[edit on 04/9/7 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by deevee
The latest idiocy from a school system that seems to be only proficient at turning out idiots.

"If you see a whole paper of red, it looks pretty frightening," said Sharon Carlson, a health and physical education teacher at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Northampton. "Purple stands out, but it doesn't look as scary as red

When will the madness end. Zero tolerance for advil, suspensions for nail clippers and now this. Absolute and utter nonsense. What happens when purple becomes the new red and our children are frightened of it? Switch to black? Can I still say black??Read About the Morons

we are idoits on the indide

Originally posted by WaStEdDeAtH777
I'm pretty sure the color red has nothing to do with it, but how the teacher marks it. A small F is nothing compared to a large, gigantic, completely blown up out of proportion "FAILURE" taking up the whole sheet. Also, if the teacher wants to make the student feel bad about the F, then so be it. This will instill fear of getting another F in the student, thus lowering the chances of say, them not studying or not doing homework. I started last year with an F on a test, but not just any ordinary F, a whopping monstrous F that took up my whole sheet telling me how horribly I did, followed by a remark by the words of "STUDY!". I never got an F in that class again.

Well that worked quite the oppossite on me.. i said screw that class and stopped caring.

but yeah overdoing it by putting a huge F on the paper with a circle around it does seem discouraging to a student.

i would force the teacher to use blue ink, because i wrote in red she got a lil peeved hehe

Oh no, not red markers! Red means hate, well thats what our teacher used to say and told us not to write in red.

"Too harsh" That is hilarious there are so many pampered babies in our schools. The parents treat their children like little gods. The children then grow up with overblown ego's and can't function in society. Soon we have a society full of people that can't think for themselves, yet think that they are always correct. RED is a good Wake-Up! call. It should be like a stop light when you get something wrong.

God, when will this PCBS end!!!!! I can't stand all of this wimpy, panzy crap that seems to be prevailing in todays world. If red is harsh, I say GOOD!!! If it's harsh, and the student doesn't like all of that red, then they should study harder, work harder ect ect. After all, the point is to show the student WHAT HE/SHE DID WORNG (oh my God I just put a "/" and then "she" after the word he - even I am not imune to the PCBS). This then should led to the student going back and understanding his mistake.

The best way to educate a child is by being a mentor, someone the child will want to emulate.

You are not spoiling a child by making an effort to treat them as an equal whenever possible.

A child will have a difficult time learning if they feel intimidated by the teacher, or the teacher belittles them, or if the child is nervous of making a mistake.

The only time a teacher has to yell at or intimidate a child is if the child or student is about to do something injurous. If the teacher is always calm and cheerful, a sudden loud, sharp command will freeze the student in his tracks.

I've taught a lot of kids wilderness survival, backpacking rock climbing, camping, outdoor cooking, canoeing, land nav, and swimming. All the principles of teaching kids I learned from a really great Boy Scout leader I had when I was young and from teachers I had in the Marines, and my own instruction of Marines. I have seen many bad teachers who for whatever reason, they are not happy with themselves perhaps, who are extreme jerks to children. The children do not learn from them and have no desire to. The children become 'problem kids' with 'learning disabilities' because the instructor is useless. Maybe the whole red pen ban or whatever is tied into efforts to improve teachers. I hope so, good teachers are very important.

Originally posted by taibunsuu
You are not spoiling a child by making an effort to treat them as an equal whenever possible.

But see, there in lies the problem. Children and adults are NOT equals. There is certainly no "equal" basis in schools being there is, and should be, a specific authority involved.

Kindness and caring are fine for those who really try, but they still are not equals.

Oh please, I don't believe the 'red is harder to read' excuse. The whole purpose of using purple instead of red is simply to avoid upsetting the poor delicate little children. Hmmmmm.... yeh right.

Seems to me some people have nothing better to do than worry about what color to use.

Agree with Moley there. I think the school systems have more important things to deal with than which colour pen may or may not 'scare' students (really, if red writing scares a student, I think councilling is in order!). What about my student who was attacked by a purple octopus while diving in Cyprus? She may be scared of the purple pen....

I work as a teacher, and our school isn't too bad. However, a local primary school was banned from saying 'black coffee' or 'blackboard', for fear of insighting racial hatred! A good friend of mine who works at our school drinks black coffee, and calls it black coffee, and is black! Should he be reprimanded for racial remarks? Crazy is what it is...

I often feel these PC guidelines make an issue out of something that's not an issue.

* Continues marking papers in red pen *


Mor

Originally posted by KrazyJethro

Originally posted by taibunsuu
You are not spoiling a child by making an effort to treat them as an equal whenever possible.

But see, there in lies the problem. Children and adults are NOT equals. There is certainly no "equal" basis in schools being there is, and should be, a specific authority involved.

Kindness and caring are fine for those who really try, but they still are not equals.

I did not say that 'adults and children are equals.' I said this:

You are not spoiling a child by making an effort to treat them as an equal whenever possible.

Frankly, I hate kids... they can mark the papers in blood for all I care.

But honestly, how is red frightening? Are we really so coddled as a nation that our children are scared of some frequencies of refracted light?

Personally I think we have to be gender sensitive also and probably insist all students write in black so the teacher can see clearly what has been written and then mark the girls papers in pink and the boys papers in blue . Gay kids should be marked with rainbow colors. We will also be requesting that all schoolkids write on tissue paper so that they don't get any nasty paper cuts or to prevent them from carrying those nasty heavy books. h

Hope this clarifies it all for you.

[edit on 8-9-2004 by Mynaeris]