Political Correctness In The Classroom

[acroyear]

Courtesy of Steve Jackson:

Teachers are being pressured to give up red ink because it intimidates the students. Green and purple are friendlier. But basically, we just need to recognize that criticism, regardless of the color, hurts their feelings and upsets their parents. No kidding. Read the CNN story.
-- Grumpy Steve Jackson

Comments

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Hm.
On the face of it, it sounds stupid, but there's also been a fair amount of research into people's reactions to different colors. Red is a very high energy/anxiety/aggression color; there's a reason you'll not find many bedrooms painted red.

It sounded from the article like teachers are putting a lot more constructive criticism into their grading, rather than just marking certain things wrong. If you're of our generation or the parents' generation a paper covered in red writing might look like every line was considered wrong; from the students' side I could see them picking up on that from the parents or simply finding red to be harder to read.

It's called negative reinforcement

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

and it's been part of buildnig up a discipline for *centuries* and more.

if they don't like the color red, don't make so many mistakes the next time.

its one way to learn to do things right, *provided* they actually look at the mistakes and learn from them.

that last part is often sorely missing, but getting rid of "red" won't solve it.

Re: It's called negative reinforcement

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

The article mentions that teachers write more positive reenforcement and commentary on the papers now than they used to. Not all the stuff in red is negative; the red color makes it feel that it is.

And then it gets tuned out. The feeling (and the more I think of it the more validity it gains) is that, strangely enough, in another color ink the words may be read and internalized, rather than the student simply coming away with a "crikey, can they criticize enough? "

[dawntreader]

but eventually, it won't matter what colour is on the paper. at this rate, negative remarks in any color will cause too much angst and teachers will be instructed not to correct their students anymore.

gr.

personally, i think they use red just so it stands out among black text and white paper. they didn't used to have so many frilly colours to choose from, so it was blue, black, or red, and red became the standard. but not because it was negative and causes children pain to look at it.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Honestly , I don't think so.

There are different connotations to colors in this world. Red=stop, green=go. Hell if I know what purple is, but I like the color.

I'm not so into banning red; that feels stupid. But I'm not surprised that a number of people have found that their feedback is more effective when delivered in a color without the "This Is Wrong" connotation.

Besides, purple's easier to read.

[kmusser]

During my brief stint as TA I usually used purple to grade papers :-)

[tchwrtr.livejournal.com]

The debate over Red Ink has been around for over a decade. If it hurts the kid's feelings, they need to "toughen up" a bit more and get over it.

One of my favorite lines from a composition class about the lines that you write that you love: "Murder your darlings." You can't expect the whole world to love your writing, and if you've fallen in love with a line, then get rid of it, because if you don't then there is the chance that you will write the rest of your piece to salvage it, no matter how bad.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

It's not about feelings (well, maybe the parents'). It's about reaction. If people will be more receptive to notes in a different color why not use it?

Red to me means 'wrong answer.' If that's not what you mean and you're giving more nuanced feedback then why muddy the waters?

I remember "murder your darlings," from a creative writing class. I think he usually used green.

*professionalism* is also a discipline

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

cute colors might work in the very early grades, but either the child learns to read something regardless of its presentation, or the child doesn't.

we're not supposed to be "selling" the idea of getting good grades here.

the message is not the carrier, and the sooner kids learn that, the better off they'll be. if that's a lesson to be learned (it is), then reinforcing that *in practice* is not something that should be forgotten.

the mixed messages being sent is one of the things harming kids the most.

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know there are studies suggesting that red leads to aggression. Maybe we should also change the color of stop lights and stop signs (yes, I know that it has been suggested before)?

The reason for using red is a good one: it stands out. Since normal writing colors are black and blue, purple and green won't stand out as much, and short notes written between the lines might get skipped by the student. Is there any other color that stands out like red? Orange and yellow are generally two faint on white paper. What's left? We are responsible for controlling our aggressions, not the teachers. They are responsible for getting their point across, which red does.

If a little red ink leads to aggression in kids, they need more than another color for marking their papers.