Parents complaining about teachers using red ink because it's "too stressful."

[DVD Polizei]

I just drank a can of Code Red and I totally freaked out. I am the first official victim of...Teh Rehd.

[jrobinson]

Originally Posted by Breakfast with Girls

Well, people do instinctively associate red with alarm and anger. I mean, really, is there any reason to use it over green or, say, light blue?

It is more distinct.

[resinrats]

I say screw the pen, get a wide point magic marker, fire-engine red. I'd say the teacher gets to call the little dumbass up to the front of the class and berate him in front of everone but these damn hippy parents would whine about that as well.

[Squirrel God]

Originally Posted by resinrats

I'd say the teacher gets to call the little dumbass up to the front of the class and berate him in front of everone

The word is fellate.

[Mr. Salty]

Originally Posted by jrobinson

It is more distinct.

Exactly. Red stands out against the blue or black ink on the paper.

I'm a copy editor and we use red ink when we proof pages. Why? Because you can't miss a mistake that has been marked in red ink.

Maybe I'll ask my boss tomorrow if we can start using a soft, purple ink because work is too stressful. And don't they make pens with scented inks? Maybe I can work some aroma therapy into the workplace, too.

[cruzness]

Originally Posted by talemyn

Don't get me started on the school systems that ban dodgeball because it excludes the kids who get tagged out.

or 'We don't keep score because everyone should be a winner'
What a load of crap. Parents lets face it some of your kids are not smart, some of your kids are bad atheletes. So we penalize the kids who excel whether it be academicly or atheleticly. Next thing you know we will hear about people wanting to get rid of F's on the grading scale because it traumatizes Little Johnny. REALLY and I just thought he should pay more attention to the books and less attention to PS2 and MTV. Parents p@ss me off. Red ink, if you paid more attention to your kids there wouldn't be so much red ink on their work.

[Tommy Ceez]

MY g/f has NEVER marked in red (6+ years) for exactly this reason.

WTF's the difference? They still get it wrong and fail.

[Breakfast with Girls]

Originally Posted by Mr. Salty

Exactly. Red stands out against the blue or black ink on the paper.

If that's the case then orange should be just as appropriate, but you don't see anyone use orange. People use red for the exact reason that some people have a problem with it.

[mllefoo]

Originally Posted by cruzness

or 'We don't keep score because everyone should be a winner'
What a load of crap. Parents lets face it some of your kids are not smart, some of your kids are bad atheletes. So we penalize the kids who excel whether it be academicly or atheleticly. Next thing you know we will hear about people wanting to get rid of F's on the grading scale because it traumatizes Little Johnny. REALLY and I just thought he should pay more attention to the books and less attention to PS2 and MTV. Parents p@ss me off. Red ink, if you paid more attention to your kids there wouldn't be so much red ink on their work.

Some of you folks should read a short story by Kurt Vonnegut titled "Harrison Bergeron".

It may ring some bells for you.

[AsmodeusVice]

Originally Posted by WiccanMuse

Amen. So many people are way too "touchyfeelypoliticallycorrect"... I'm waiting for the pendulum to swing back towards normalcy, where kids can feel free to drink out of hoses, eat dirt, and get lots of red marks and LEARN FROM IT. :-)

No kidding. I'm so sick of frivolous lawsuits and people who can't handle normal life, so they try to change it. When are the people that are sick of PC and thin skinned people gonna fight back? I'm all for it.

I think the thinner these people's skin gets, the more sadistic my humor becomes. They just MAKE me want to piss them off.

[talemyn]

Originally Posted by mllefoo

Some of you folks should read a short story by Kurt Vonnegut titled "Harrison Bergeron".

It may ring some bells for you.

I read it in 7th grade English . . . it is my absolute favorite of his work (that I've read ). x 2

Edit: For anyone interested, I found an online copy of the story (it's one of his short stories) here -----> http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html

[davejt1]

I once had a college professor who took a unique approach to grading - it may come in handy here.

When grading our exams, he would simply make a note of the number of right and wrong answers on a separate piece of paper.

When he was done grading the test, he simply write the total score (number of questions correct) at the top of the paper (in this case, the parents would be free to select the ink color if they so wish - don't want to upset anyone). He gave no indication of which individual items were right and which were wrong - all we got was a number.

Then, if we truly wanted to "learn from our mistakes," we could then go through the test with our notes, text book, etc. to figure out which items were graded as being right and which ones were graded as being wrong - these were mostly multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank items, so there wasn't much gray area. If you had questions about a particular item, however, you could always debate it with him (sometimes he would cave in if he thought it was an unfair question). Of course, if you didn't care either way, you could simply blow it off (and trust that our teacher graded the test correctly to begin with).

What made this exercise especially useful is that when we had our final exam, most of the questions were taken verbatim from these smaller tests, so it was always in your best interest to figure out what we did wrong.

To make a long story longer...if these parents want to truly understand the meaning of the word "stress," have them try this. Trust me, this is amazingly time consuming - especially if you have a busy life to begin with. I have to admit, though, that while it seemed cruel, I really did learn a lot by going over my tests in detail. I'm betting that most of the parents will be donating red markers by the truckload once they have to deal with this added burden over a semester or two.

[VinVega]

I think grading is stressful and should be banned in school.

That's really the next step here.

[Bandoman]

Originally Posted by davejt1

I once had a college professor who took a unique appraoch to grading - it may come in handy here.

When grading our exams, he would simply make a note of the number of right and wrong answers on a separate piece of paper.

When he was done grading the test, he simply write the total score (number of questions correct) at the top of the paper (in this case, the parents would be free to select the ink color if they so wish - don't want to upset anyone). He gave no indication of which individual items were right and which were wrong - all we got was a number.

Then, if we truly wanted to "learn from our mistakes," we could then go through the test with our notes, text book, etc. to figure out which items were graded as being right and which ones were graded as being wrong - these were mostly multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank items, so there wasn't much gray area. If you had questions about a particular item, however, you could always debate it with him (sometimes he would cave in if he thought it was an unfair question). Of course, if you didn't care either way, you could simply blow it off (and trust that our teacher graded the test correctly to begin with).

What made this exercise especially useful is that when we had our final exam, most of the questions were taken verbatim from these smaller tests, so it was always in your best interest to figure out what we did wrong.

To make a long story longer...if these parents want to truly understand the meaning of the word "stress," have them try this. Trust me, this is amazingly time consuming - especially if you have a busy life to begin with. I have to admit, though, that while it seemed cruel, I really did learn a lot by going over my tests in detail. I'm betting that most of the parents will be donating red markers by the truckload once they have to deal with this added burden over a semester or two.

That's great!

[wendersfan]

Screw the red ink, just give the kids an electric shock every time they make a mistake.

[jrobinson]

Originally Posted by Breakfast with Girls

If that's the case then orange should be just as appropriate, but you don't see anyone use orange. People use red for the exact reason that some people have a problem with it.

Orange is a lighter color than true red and it's not as distinct.

[sracer]

Originally Posted by VinVega

I think grading is stressful and should be banned in school.

That's really the next step here.

Get with the times... Outcome-based Education has been around in force for nearly 20 years in some parts of the country. There are some high schools (one in NC) that don't have alphanumeric grades.... they believe that grades are too subjective to be meaningful. (An 85 from one teacher may be easier to attain than an 85 from another). So they have something called a student portfolio of the students' writings and work.

The key premise to OBE is that the EFFORT be rewarded, not the RESULTS. If little Johnny works hard at adding 2 and 2 and gets 3, he is rewarded for the effort just the same as a student who got the correct answer, 5... err 4.

It is this whole notion of making children the center... center of the class... center of the family... center of society that results in teens who are not capable of dealing with life. When these self-centered kids become teenagers, they discover that they are NOT the center of the world. (their peers have their own issues to deal with) Not being the center of attention for the first time in their lives, they can't handle it... sometimes resulting in these HS shootings.

[Brain Stew]

You guys are just as dramatic as the parents complaining about red ink. A couple of stupid parents complain and you act like the sky is falling.

[OldDude]

Originally Posted by sracer

The key premise to OBE is that the EFFORT be rewarded, not the RESULTS. If little Johnny works hard at adding 2 and 2 and gets 3, he is rewarded for the effort just the same as a student who got the correct answer, 5... err 4.

And when these kids grow up and become rocket scientists,
OBE becomes Obviously Bad Errors.

[Red Dog]

Why do many people become absolute morans the minute their child comes out of their (or mate's) womb.

[wendersfan]

Originally Posted by Red Dog

Why do many people become absolute morans the minute their child comes out of their (or mate's) womb.

They were morans before, but parenthood allows them to demonstrate it in new, exciting, and more public ways.

[Marco1]

The ongoing pussification of our children. Next thing you know they will ban Dodgeball from schools and make sure every kid gets a trophy.

[Sdallnct]

Seems to me if the parents spent less time whinning about the color of ink and more time helping their kids, they would not see any red ink anyway.

[talemyn]

Originally Posted by Marco1

The ongoing pussification of our children. Next thing you know they will ban Dodgeball from schools and make sure every kid gets a trophy.

It's already been done in a number of school districts across the country.

[davejt1]

Maybe their kids can enroll in the "Sunshine Academy" (the non-traditional school where Maeby attended - see "Arrested Development"). On her report card, she earned a crocodile in Spelling, an Elvis in Science, and a jack-in-the-box in English.