Red Falls Out of Favor As Teacher's Choice

AP/Newsday ^ | 4/3/05 | BEN FELLER

[kiriath_jearim]

Red Falls Out of Favor As Teacher's Choice

By BEN FELLER

April 3, 2005, 12:33 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- 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, Conn., 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.

"It's not an argument we want to have at this point because what we need is the parents' understanding," Karwoski said. "The color of the message should not be the issue."

In many other schools, it's black and white when it comes to red. The color has become so symbolic of negativity that some principals and teachers will not touch it.

"You could hold up a paper that says 'Great work!' and it won't even matter if it's written in red," said Joseph Foriska, principal of Thaddeus Stevens Elementary in Pittsburgh.

He has instructed his teachers to grade with colors featuring more "pleasant-feeling tones" so that their instructional messages do not come across as derogatory or demeaning.

"The color is everything," said Foriska, an educator for 31 years.

At Public School 188 in Manhattan, 25-year-old teacher Justin Kazmark grades with purple, which has emerged as a new color of choice for many educators, pen manufacturers confirm.

[Phocion]

The teachers unions still seem find of red, though.

[Phocion]

Er, fond. I had better get my red marker out.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[ClearCase_guy]

I have a dream ... that one day our children's homework will be judged by the content of their answers and not by the color of the marker -- I have a dream today!

[Old Professer]

Now we have to knuckle under to Red Writing Hood?

[moroque11]

BREAKING - The words, "No," and, "Stop," have just been banned from public schools because they are too negative and might make children cry. Teachers are encouraged to build self esteem before addressing students in a manner that might cause deflated spirits. For example, "Billy, you are an energetic young boy, but can please do something more constructive than pull Tina's hair?"

[N. Beaujon]

"The color is everything," said Foriska, an educator for 31 years.

Incredible. Not the quality of the work, the substance of the comments but the color is everything. The phrase "style over substance" doesn't even begin to tell this story.

[cgbg]

Purple

Is that anything like lavender?

;-)

[TomGuy]

The ink battle was going on in the early 70's too.

Then, green became the defacto grading color for a while, for some. But the results were the same: wrong is still wrong.

[Gondring]

I say fine...no more red ink... fire these idiots administrators and balance the school budget.

[Theresawithanh]

Oh, fer cryin' out loud!

Mallard Filmore will have to address this topic in his "self-esteem" comix.

[Logophile]

I have been using my favorite fountain pen filled with purple ink to grade papers. After reading this, I am going to switch to RED ink. When I mark something wrong, I want the student to see it. If the color also exerts a bit of stress that causes the student to avoid the error in the future, so much the better.

[kittymyrib]

We score below every nation but Bangladesh in math skills, but our spoiled-rotten students rank #1 in self-esteem. They are so ignorant, they don't even know they don't know much. Pathetic.

[repub_phdstudent]

once again, the liberals are having their way with the education system...anything associated with a contrary view is banned: prayer in school, RED ink, what's next?

;-)

[southernnorthcarolina]

I remember when I was in 8th grade, and had grown tired of having my book reports come back with red correction marks and comments. So, in order to make the corrections less obvious, I wrote a report in red ink. It came back corrected in green -- with the comment that I was being docked an extra letter grade for my impertinence.

[raybbr]

"Teacher says every time you write with red ink an angel loses its wings."

Gotta stop that, then.

[Theresawithanh]

You're a rebel and you'll never, never be any good....

Just kidding, I applaud your rebelness!

[KC_for_Freedom]

I wrote a report in red ink. It came back corrected in green -- with the comment that I was being docked an extra letter grade for my impertinence.

Good for you and your teacher. Nice Try is what I would have said. In my teaching I was schooled in the idea that Red has a special place. For causing real notice it could not be beat, but it would lose this power if Red was used too often or used for things less important than marking something wrong or hilighting something very important on the board. So this is how I used it.

When correcting student's work in front of other students for example I would use a neutral color like green or blue( to hilight but not scream ). I would write with green, blue, and black to separate ideas on the board, then out a red check mark against something that needed emphasis.

[SolidRedState]

I happen to like red!