Red is too scary for students

[mikehunt]

the p****fication of American continues
http://www.boston.com/news/education...seeing_purple/

Harshness of red marks has students seeing purple

By Naomi Aoki, Globe Staff | August 23, 2004

When it comes to correcting papers and grading tests, purple is emerging as the new red.

"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."

That's the cue pen makers and office supply superstores say they have gotten from teachers as the $15 billion back-to-school retail season kicks off. They say focus groups and conversations with teachers have led them to conclude that a growing number of the nation's educators are switching to purple, a color they perceive as "friendlier" than red.

As a result, Paper Mate introduced purple to its assortment of blue, red, and green X-Tend pens and increased distribution of existing purple pens this school year. Barry Calpino, Paper Mate's vice president and general manager, estimated that the Bellwood, Ill., company boosted production of purple pens by at least 10 percent. He said purple will now be a standard color in all its new product lines.

Office superstores such as Staples and OfficeMax also are making a splash with purple pens, stocking more of them, adding purple to multicolor packs, and selling all-purple packs. By comparison, Staples did not stock any exclusively purple pen packs last year and it hardly had any purple pens in its stores two years ago, said Robert George, the Framingham chain's senior vice president of general merchandise. Now, he said, sales of purple pens are growing at a faster clip than pen sales overall.

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.

"The concept of purple as a replacement for red is a pretty good idea," said Leatrice Eiseman, director of the Pantone Color Institute in Carlstadt, N.J., and author of five books on color. "You soften the blow of red. Red is a bit over-the-top in its aggression."

For office supply stores, color and fashion trends spell opportunity and risk. The trends allow them to freshen up staid old categories such as pens and markers, fueling sales. But getting a trend wrong -- betting on purple pens when teachers and students are buying green, for example -- can cost them sales during a critical retail period.

Red's legacy as the color used in correcting papers and marking mistakes goes back to the 1700s, the era of the quill pen. In those days, red ink was used by clerks and accountants to correct ledgers. From there, it found its way into teachers' hands. Continued...

So much for America being the home of the brave

[eXcentris]

"If you see a whole paper of red, it looks pretty frightening," said senator Joseph McCarthy

Fixed.

[Matthew Chmiel]

Oh Jesus fucking Christ.

And yet again, I am ashamed of the stupidity in this country.

[muggins]

mikehunt, your signature scares me.

[AndyCapps]

Well, it is the bad color.

[Mutley Hyde]

{Runs out of thread, screaming}

[Mole177]

thats pansy shit.

whatever happend to the good ol days?

red marks on papers puts the fear in students to do better.

[diacritic]

I use purple or green. It is much less intimidating and the students are more likely to actually read the comments and corrections.

When I get pissed off, however, at the crappy writing that my students are producing, I revert back to my special Jack the Ripper red.

[C-Mart]

So what? Eventually purple will equate to bad. Marks on a paper period are intimidating, especially if there are a lot of them... I had teachers that corrected tests in pencil.

[Randy Miller III]

BOW BEFORE ME!

[tasha99]

Originally posted by AndyCapps
Well, it is the bad color.

Yes, but shouldn't we use yellow pens instead? Yellow is the good color as well as symbolic.

tasha

[diacritic]

Originally posted by C-Mart
So what? Eventually purple will equate to bad.

That's when we turn to fuchsia.... and then burgundy.... and then teal...... but, yeah, whenever you write fix your grammar, beefhead it's gonna be intimidating

[C-Mart]

Well, I would hope that a teacher wouldn't use that terminology when grading a paper... but yeah. Teal is good... we "redline" our plans in teal.

[al_bundy]

I guess the next step is to just not correct the papers lest the kids' feelings get hurt. they need to feel comfortable with the subject.

[RoyalTea]

fuck that. I'm using red and nothing but red from now on.

[AndyCapps]

Originally posted by RoyalTea
fuck that. I'm using red and nothing but red from now on.

What will those we do not speak of think?

[johnglass]

Originally posted by AndyCapps
What will those we do not speak of think?

Don't know, but the bulls are gonna be pissed!

[Quake1028]

Originally posted by AndyCapps
What will those we do not speak of think?

[krkuhl]

didnt they learn from good ol' jerry? purple is the color of homosexuals and everyone knows that if we use purple, all of our children will become gay and then the morals of society will become corrupt and the world will just turn into crap. sheesh, idiots.