Schools begin banning teachers from using red ink

[Infernai]

It's at times like this I wish I had the "I don't want to live on this planet anymore" image.

Will you accept a video clip instead?

 

[samsonguy920]

This all began when we started to put Self-Esteem over Self-Respect. I think we need to bring back the old days where Darwin's Evolutionary Theory was king, and if you couldn't survive a day in the wild you were useless to society as a whole; lets start with the Social Workers and Self-Esteem Supporting Teachers/Headmasters STARTING NOW.

Robert Heinlein puts forward in a number of his books that one of the first signs of the decline of civilization is the decline in manners. When people can't be bothered to show respect to their fellow man, what use is there to maintain a national connection between everyone?
This is an example of how science fiction becomes reality, though not quite how you might expect it.
Sadly this is becoming more prevalent, at least in the first world countries. It doesn't seem as strong in the EU as over here in the US, probably because there has been a new sense of national identity with the formation of the union. With corruption of governments, people begin to look more for their own protection, disregarding the needs of their community and nation over their own. This becomes evident in the school system when people feel their own self-esteem overrides anyone else's. This first became apparent when more people started having issues with the Pledge of Allegiance in class.
Now we have an issue with pen color which might offend the emotions of students, overriding their need to have a clear and non-obstructive form of critique in order to better themselves and their minds.
Charles Dickens said it best, 'The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few.' John Kennedy said it again his own way, 'Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.' If we continue on this path of individual needs, disregarding our duty to our nations, then the nations to which we belong will fall and we will have no one to blame but ourselves for the chaos, disorder, death, and darkness we will fall into.
Serving the petty needs of individuals by denying them the device that could give them a better education is only one more step to that downfall. You show no respect to a person by depriving them of the facilities to enhance their thinking, their creativity, and their logic. Thinking otherwise only serves disrespect to both them and yourself.
Please, if you come away from this with something better for yourself, take it and share with others. Even if it is only about a pen of red ink.

 

[beniki]

Woopdi-fucking-doo. If they think it might benefit some students, go for it. It might work, it might not, but it's ink. It is as low risk as can be.

I wish I was kidding about this, but some schools in the U.K. have actually prohibited teachers from using red ink pens when correcting student assignments. They say the red ink is "demoralizing to students" and "making them do worse in school." Are you freaking kidding me?! Red ink makes sense to me because then you can actually see where the mistakes and markings are so you know where to fix mistakes! People need to stop being so freaking sensitive about everything. Coddling your kids all the way through school isn't going to do shit for them. If they're doing bad then they're doing bad and you're not helping them by making it easier for them to handle.

Indeed, we should skip the ink entirely and just tattoo "big fucking failure" on their forehead. That'll learn them.

The point isn't to make them feel better about their mistakes. I don't think it is a stretch to say that a bunch of red marks send a different message (this is a pile of shit you ignorant asshat) than green (these areas need attention). By making the mistakes easier to handle, they can actually address them instead of viewing them as insurmountable and giving up.

This isn't about coddling, it is about creating an environment that enhances learning.

Hypothetically.

No. By doing this we are creating an environment where making mistakes is seen as bad, and something to be avoided, and even kept secret. That does not help learning. Kids need to learn that making mistakes is ok, as long as you fix it.

Red is clear. Red means stop, danger, or beef if it's Oxo. Green means continue, this is ok, or vegetable. I will not teach vegetables.

The failure is not in the colour of the pen, it's in the way making mistakes is interpreted. It's up to the teacher to reinforce the idea that making mistakes is ok, and that things can be fixed. Not that potential problems should be avoided or hidden.

Yes, I'm a teacher. Yes I use a red pen for marking. No, I won't stop using it... unless I happen to lose it somewhere.

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

Wha...huh...*shakes head* Good god, people are stupid. As it was said above, red is used because YOU CAN EASILY SEE THE ERRORS It's not demoralizing. Your shitty performance in school is demoralizing, not some damn colored marker.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

If I went out and insulted every person in the universe then they would live. Who cares if someone takes offense, its called being a human.

There's already someone doing that, they became immortal after an accident with a few rubber bands and a particle accelerator, and after millenia of total boredom, he decided to insult everyone in the entire universe in alphabetical order.
(Cookie for reference)

Fable 3. I want that game.

OT: Red stands out. You are meant to feel like you didn't do good because you... didn't.

 

[McMullen]

Well, eventually we'll run out of cultural and societal bars to lower, and then perhaps these people will petition the laws of physics to be a little less harsh. Perhaps when they find that the second law of thermodynamics doesn't care about its effect on morale, they'll realize that maybe they've been going the wrong way.

Actually, no, because by then wrongness will have been abolished.

Oh well.

 

[pearcinator]

I'm studying to be a primary school teacher and this doesn't surprise me...you wouldn't believe the amount of bullshit 'demoralizers' there are.

For example, when providing constructive (i.e. negative) feedback teachers are not supposed to say the child's name because that would be 'demoralizing!'. For example,

'I am disappointed that you didn't do you're work' instead of
'Johnny, It is disappointing to see that you didn't complete your work'

For some reason I am told that children would react negatively to this and blame themselves and become worse and still won't do their work. I call bullshit. The reason why students aren't doing their work is because they dont LIKE doing it. Find something the kids can enjoy and they will do it.

The red pen nonsense is stupid. Red is just a colour and in no way demoralizing...it's clearer to use red pen when students write in blue or black.

 

[Draconalis]

Wait! They are banning red ink?

Is it because all the bulls were getting angry and trampling the kids?!

What's going on? I wasn't actually paying any attention.

 

[infohippie]

Is there no moderate nation anymore? The US is too conservative in a lot of places but a lot of western Europe is almost liberal enough, if only they'd go just a bit further.

Fixed that for you. Not that you could include Britain in the liberal part of Europe, they're very nearly as conservative as America.

OT: Sounds a pretty stupid idea to me. If I were a teacher I'd like to teach my class something like "Purple is the colour of shame" and then go mark all their papers in purple pen. Most of the antisocial problems with "da yoof" in Britain seem to me to stem from entitlement issues. They seem to think they "deserve better" because they're "special".

 

[Crazycat690]

Geez, soon they wont even bother sending kids to school, because there is a possibility they will do badly... George Carlin is lucky to be dead, his head would have exploded from this

Not everyone are winners duwdees!

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

Well, red IS a psychologically aggressive colour. We're trained to consider it alarming, so this makes as much sense as not letting teachers swear at students who misbehave.

Outright banning seems a bit...overboard, but it's probably best that red ink be discouraged. Green would be a good alternative.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Red is clear. Red means stop, danger, or beef if it's Oxo. Green means continue, this is ok, or vegetable. I will not teach vegetables.

I like that comparison to Oxo containers. I like it a lot.

If I went out and insulted every person in the universe then they would live. Who cares if someone takes offense, its called being a human.

There's already someone doing that, they became immortal after an accident with a few rubber bands and a particle accelerator, and after millenia of total boredom, he decided to insult everyone in the entire universe in alphabetical order.
(Cookie for reference)

Fable 3. I want that game.

OT: Red stands out. You are meant to feel like you didn't do good because you... didn't.

Well, I was referring to a character from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, http://hhgproject.org/entries/wowbagger.html
but I've never played Fable 3 so I don't really know how legitimate your claim is, so I can't give you a cookie but how about some shortbread as a booby prize:

 

[DarthSka]

I would make a Futurama reference, but I can see that an action of that type is unnecessary now. But I also take offense to this considering red is my favorite color. I guess I'm just too demoralizing for society to handle.

 

[Aprilgold]

Well, red IS a psychologically aggressive colour. We're trained to consider it alarming, so this makes as much sense as not letting teachers swear at students who misbehave.

Outright banning seems a bit...overboard, but it's probably best that red ink be discouraged. Green would be a good alternative.

Or, you know, not using letter grades, but a number of EXP and if the whole class gets enough EXP to LEVEL UP then they get a field trip, how about that?

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Well, red IS a psychologically aggressive colour. We're trained to consider it alarming, so this makes as much sense as not letting teachers swear at students who misbehave.

Outright banning seems a bit...overboard, but it's probably best that red ink be discouraged. Green would be a good alternative.

Or, you know, not using letter grades, but a number of EXP and if the whole class gets enough EXP to LEVEL UP then they get a field trip, how about that?

Yes, or we could focus on quality education and proper teaching. All of these changes are just gimmicks that would have little effect. A good teacher who knows what he/she is doing goes a long way.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

People need to stop getting offended at everything.

 

[Nurb]

Is there no moderate nation anymore? The US is too conservative in a lot of places but a lot of western Europe is almost liberal enough, if only they'd go just a bit further.

Fixed that for you. Not that you could include Britain in the liberal part of Europe, they're very nearly as conservative as America.

I beg to differ

Spoiler: Ahem

 

[Aprilgold]

Well, red IS a psychologically aggressive colour. We're trained to consider it alarming, so this makes as much sense as not letting teachers swear at students who misbehave.

Outright banning seems a bit...overboard, but it's probably best that red ink be discouraged. Green would be a good alternative.

Or, you know, not using letter grades, but a number of EXP and if the whole class gets enough EXP to LEVEL UP then they get a field trip, how about that?

Yes, or we could focus on quality education and proper teaching. All of these changes are just gimmicks that would have little effect. A good teacher who knows what he/she is doing goes a long way.

OR WE COULD DO ALL OF THE ABOVE! For what Teachers that get paid for what they do, they don't get enough to actually do what they want to do.