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

Mr. Salty · 04-04-05, 05:49 PM

I'm friends with a few teachers, so I'm not one who is ready to condemn our entire educational system as a lost cause, but it's stories like this that make me wish school administrators would find their backbones again.

Read the full story at CNN.com:

Red ink falling out of favor with teachers
Monday, April 4, 2005 Posted: 12:11 PM EDT (1611 GMT)
At Public School 188 in Manhattan, 25-year-old teacher Justin Kazmark grades with purple.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Of all the things that can make a person see red, school principal Gail Karwoski was not expecting parents to get huffy about, well, seeing red.

At Daniels Farm Elementary School in Trumbull, Connecticut, Karwoski's teachers grade papers by giving examples of better answers for those students who make mistakes. But that approach meant the kids often found their work covered in red, the color that teachers long have used to grade work.

Parents objected. Red writing, they said, was "stressful." The principal said teachers were just giving constructive advice and the color of ink used to convey that message should not matter. But some parents could not let it go.

So the school put red on the blacklist. Blue and other colors are in.

brizz · 04-04-05, 05:52 PM

I've seen this reported before. Fucking morons.

Randy Miller III · 04-04-05, 05:52 PM

Well, why shouldn't red ink be "stressful"? It's just pointing out what should be corrected, for cryin' out loud.

talemyn · 04-04-05, 05:53 PM

I actually remember jokingly giving my teachers a hard time about that in 7th/8th grade (late 80's). I think there is actually some longstanding research that went into this "belief" . . . sad to say.

LilyLilyRose · 04-04-05, 05:57 PM

I had a professor that did this. She wrote in purple because it was less confrontational. She also made us remove our hats, gum and had us wear nametags. I felt like I was in elementary school again. I think it's stupid, over time the new color will seem just as "stressful" as red did. It seems like just a bunch of parents that are mad that their children are being corrected and not reguarded as the geniuses that they really are.

Tom Banjo · 04-04-05, 06:00 PM

Reminds me of a time when I went in a Yahoo chat room for bipolar people. I had my default text color set to red, and several of them started freaking out. I was asked by a moderator to change it to a less "confrontational" color.

agrall · 04-04-05, 06:01 PM

This is so ridiculous. We are babying our children so much these days... Can't have ANY negative reinforcement.

OldDude · 04-04-05, 06:15 PM

Or, the kids could just work harder and get it correct. Then, they wouldn't see any red ink.

devilshalo · 04-04-05, 06:21 PM

Breakfast with Girls · 04-04-05, 06:27 PM

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?

muggins · 04-04-05, 06:29 PM

Repost...

http://dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=381608

As devilshalo wrote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by devilshalo

F-

OldDude · 04-04-05, 06:31 PM

Quote:

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?

Well, yeah, green and blue were reserved for "correct" check marks. Red was for the "you got it wrong, stupid" X's

Breakfast with Girls · 04-04-05, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldDude

Well, yeah, green and blue were reserved for "correct" check marks. Red was for the "you got it wrong, stupid" X's

I don't think I've ever had a teacher mark the correct answers, just the incorrect ones.

Spoiler:

TomOpus · 04-04-05, 06:39 PM

Next thing they'll do is not fail anyone because it's too stressful.

OldDude · 04-04-05, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Breakfast with Girls

I don't think I've ever had a teacher mark the correct answers, just the incorrect ones.

Spoiler:

I suppose that is "efficiency." When I was in school, at least on tests, every answer was marked, either correct or incorrect. That is what the half red/half blue pencil was for.

talemyn · 04-04-05, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agrall

This is so ridiculous. We are babying our children so much these days... Can't have ANY negative reinforcement.

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

mikehunt · 04-04-05, 07:23 PM

and then kids will think "purple means I suck" after a month or two

Goldberg74 · 04-04-05, 07:33 PM

I grade everything in red ink... and I LOVE IT!

mllefoo · 04-04-05, 07:33 PM

If your kid wasn't so stupid and refused to study, your kid wouldn't get red marks to begin with. I really hate people. Grow a thicker skin, parents, because your kids are NOT perfect. Sorry. If they make a mistake on their paper, it will get marked down. Red is used because red is the most visible color.

Even blue ink would be difficult to see on a paper hand written in blue ink, you know?

Frankly, red ink never bothered me as a kid. It doesn't bother me now as a college student. Stressful color, indeed.

Squirrel God · 04-04-05, 07:38 PM

Oh no! Red! The bad colour!

Do we know if the parents had just recently watched 'The Village'?

OldDude · 04-04-05, 07:52 PM

I'm sorry to inform you this thread is incorrect, because it is a DUPLICATE.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...eachers+purple

DVD Polizei · 04-04-05, 08:01 PM

I suggest parents should stay away from the Elektra DVD, Ocean's 12, and Valentine's Day. Oh, and Christmas too.

WiccanMuse · 04-04-05, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mllefoo

If your kid wasn't so stupid and refused to study, your kid wouldn't get red marks to begin with. I really hate people. Grow a thicker skin, parents, because your kids are NOT perfect. Sorry. If they make a mistake on their paper, it will get marked down. Red is used because red is the most visible color.

Even blue ink would be difficult to see on a paper hand written in blue ink, you know?

Frankly, red ink never bothered me as a kid. It doesn't bother me now as a college student. Stressful color, indeed.

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. :-)

Muse

tasha99 · 04-04-05, 09:12 PM

This pops up now and then but is pretty old (I read some essays from ten years ago on it in a composition and rhetoric class). I think they're talking about the comments more than the marks, which would be a huge mass of red if the teacher writes a long comment at the end. I would use red for in text corrections and comments (because they show up) but regular pen for a long end of paper note.

But red isn't really any more stressful to me than any other color. It's just an eyesore for long paragraphs.

Squirrel God · 04-04-05, 09:21 PM

They should mark in yellow. That'll give 'em something to moan about.

04-04-05, 05:49 PM	#1
Mr. Salty DVD Talk Hall of Fame Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: The tranquil banks of the Rock River Posts: 7,699	Parents complaining about teachers using red ink because it's "too stressful." I'm friends with a few teachers, so I'm not one who is ready to condemn our entire educational system as a lost cause, but it's stories like this that make me wish school administrators would find their backbones again. Read the full story at CNN.com: Red ink falling out of favor with teachers Monday, April 4, 2005 Posted: 12:11 PM EDT (1611 GMT) At Public School 188 in Manhattan, 25-year-old teacher Justin Kazmark grades with purple. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Of all the things that can make a person see red, school principal Gail Karwoski was not expecting parents to get huffy about, well, seeing red. At Daniels Farm Elementary School in Trumbull, Connecticut, Karwoski's teachers grade papers by giving examples of better answers for those students who make mistakes. But that approach meant the kids often found their work covered in red, the color that teachers long have used to grade work. Parents objected. Red writing, they said, was "stressful." The principal said teachers were just giving constructive advice and the color of ink used to convey that message should not matter. But some parents could not let it go. So the school put red on the blacklist. Blue and other colors are in. __________________ Mr. Salty's Massive Media Empire Just because a word has an "s" on the end of it doesn't mean it gets an apostrophe.

04-04-05, 05:52 PM	#2
brizz DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: bacon Posts: 17,567	I've seen this reported before. Fucking morons. __________________ Remembering is always about some degree of forgetting - David W. Blight

04-04-05, 05:53 PM	#4
talemyn DVD Talk Limited Edition Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 7,466	I actually remember jokingly giving my teachers a hard time about that in 7th/8th grade (late 80's). I think there is actually some longstanding research that went into this "belief" . . . sad to say. __________________ Hooray for sarcasm: "I laughed so hard, I vomited a little." - Cornelius1047 "G d* you guys and your photoshops. You're all sick, demented individuals. I have no clue how I'm going to explain those to him." - WhoGirl WAR EAGLE! <--- "If you look up 'good person' in the dictionary, this is the person you will find." - twikoff

04-04-05, 06:01 PM	#7
agrall Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Tucson, AZ Posts: 833	This is so ridiculous. We are babying our children so much these days... Can't have ANY negative reinforcement. __________________ The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.

04-04-05, 06:15 PM	#8
OldDude DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: MI Posts: 22,279	Or, the kids could just work harder and get it correct. Then, they wouldn't see any red ink. __________________ 9/11/2001 - You have awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible resolve. - paraphrased from Yamamoto

04-04-05, 05:52 PM	#3
Randy Miller III DVD Talk Reviewer Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Harrisburg, PA Posts: 3,562	Well, why shouldn't red ink be "stressful"? It's just pointing out what should be corrected, for cryin' out loud.

04-04-05, 05:57 PM	#5
LilyLilyRose Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Iowa Posts: 120	I had a professor that did this. She wrote in purple because it was less confrontational. She also made us remove our hats, gum and had us wear nametags. I felt like I was in elementary school again. I think it's stupid, over time the new color will seem just as "stressful" as red did. It seems like just a bunch of parents that are mad that their children are being corrected and not reguarded as the geniuses that they really are.

04-04-05, 06:00 PM	#6
Tom Banjo DVD Talk Special Edition Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 1,903	Reminds me of a time when I went in a Yahoo chat room for bipolar people. I had my default text color set to red, and several of them started freaking out. I was asked by a moderator to change it to a less "confrontational" color.

04-04-05, 06:21 PM	#9
devilshalo DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Somewhere between Heaven and Hell Posts: 19,645	F- __________________ I get paid to talk. I don't have an M.D. or Law Degree. I have a bachelors in kickin' ass and taking names. You know that guy who can pick up any girl? I'm him... on crack. - Nick Naylor XBox Live Gamertag: DevHalo

04-04-05, 06:27 PM	#10
Breakfast with Girls DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Seattle Posts: 15,462	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? __________________ "Thus spoke BWG." - Groucho

04-04-05, 06:39 PM	#14
TomOpus DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: FUN Diego, CA Posts: 17,835	Next thing they'll do is not fail anyone because it's too stressful. __________________ "Pear Pimples for Hairy Fishnuts!" My So-Called DVD Life (Profiler),A Fistful of Discs (DVDAf) My Countdown Counting down to: San Diego Comic-Con 2010 242 days 21 hours 22 minutes

04-04-05, 07:23 PM	#17
mikehunt DVD Talk Hero Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Bartertown due to it having a better economy than where I really live, Buffalo NY Posts: 27,802	and then kids will think "purple means I suck" after a month or two __________________ http://www.ytedk.com/ Vote for freedom not political parties. .... MOΛΩN ΛABE كافر Well, maybe back to back. But I gotta tell you, I'm not 100% on this.

04-04-05, 07:33 PM	#18
Goldberg74 DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 12,185	I grade everything in red ink... and I LOVE IT! __________________ "WHAT DOES THE BEAN MEAN!?" - Kevin on The Office Wii Code: 5525 6439 1664 4091 Mario Kart Wii Code: 1504-6291-6391 (Mikey) My Countdown Counting down to: Going to Chi-Town! Living it up in the Windy City!

04-04-05, 07:33 PM	#19
mllefoo DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Feb 2000 Location: Ferment Posts: 19,548	If your kid wasn't so stupid and refused to study, your kid wouldn't get red marks to begin with. I really hate people. Grow a thicker skin, parents, because your kids are NOT perfect. Sorry. If they make a mistake on their paper, it will get marked down. Red is used because red is the most visible color. Even blue ink would be difficult to see on a paper hand written in blue ink, you know? Frankly, red ink never bothered me as a kid. It doesn't bother me now as a college student. Stressful color, indeed. __________________ You're a naughty child and that's concentrated evil coming out the back of you.

04-04-05, 07:38 PM	#20
Squirrel God DVD Talk Gold Edition Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 2,065	Oh no! Red! The bad colour! Do we know if the parents had just recently watched 'The Village'?

04-04-05, 07:52 PM	#21
OldDude DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: MI Posts: 22,279	I'm sorry to inform you this thread is incorrect, because it is a DUPLICATE. http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...eachers+purple __________________ 9/11/2001 - You have awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible resolve. - paraphrased from Yamamoto

04-04-05, 08:01 PM	#22
DVD Polizei DVD Talk Hero Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: On the edge of sanity Posts: 31,257	I suggest parents should stay away from the Elektra DVD, Ocean's 12, and Valentine's Day. Oh, and Christmas too. __________________ Blu-ray Titles: 121 \| HD DVD Titles: 309 "If you think you have the Swine Flu...relax...it's just gas." - DVD P Initial Body Weight on October 2008: 305lbs \| Current Body Weight: 215.5lbs \| Baseline Body Weight: 219lbs \| Net Weight Loss: 89.5lbs

04-04-05, 09:12 PM	#24
tasha99 DVD Talk Ultimate Edition Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Eugene, OR Posts: 4,337	This pops up now and then but is pretty old (I read some essays from ten years ago on it in a composition and rhetoric class). I think they're talking about the comments more than the marks, which would be a huge mass of red if the teacher writes a long comment at the end. I would use red for in text corrections and comments (because they show up) but regular pen for a long end of paper note. But red isn't really any more stressful to me than any other color. It's just an eyesore for long paragraphs.

04-04-05, 09:21 PM	#25
Squirrel God DVD Talk Gold Edition Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 2,065	They should mark in yellow. That'll give 'em something to moan about.