Schools begin banning teachers from using red ink

[The Artificially Prolonged]

A wrong answer mark in red ink or not is still a wrong answer, unless we are going down the route of phasing out wrong answers in case the poor little kids suffer mental anguish because they mixed up 'there' and 'their' on their homework assignment. I hope not or I foresee a future like this;

Teacher "Alright Timmy what does 2+2 equal"
Timmy "Apple"
Teacher "That's right Timmy 2+2 does equal apple. You get an A."

Being less over dramatic I'll say this probably won't have much of an effect really as a teacher will still have to correct a student who has made a mistake, so kid is still going to get the demoralising effect of getting something wrong anyway. Rather parents and teachers alike should focus on the fact that in is okay to make a mistake. Making mistakes is part and part of the education experience. It is not important that the kid made the a mistake, but rather the kid understands why he/she made the mistake and is thus better equipped to tackle a similar problem in the future. That essentially is a teacher's job, to teach the child and to steer them back in the right direction when they do misunderstand things. And easiest way of doing that is by a little red circle over a spelling mistake and the like.

So on reflection, I would have to give the school in the article a big red frowny face.

EDIT

Damn my spelling! Best correct it before someone on the forums breaks out the red font and makes me feel sad.

 

[HardkorSB]

My teachers use red ink for correct answers as well... Why is everything so overly sensitive. 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.

How can someone be offended by the color red?

If you're a comedian, you don't need to create jokes anymore. Just stand in front of an audience and read them the news.

 

[DracoSuave]

The reason red pen is used is because of practicality.

Most pens are blue, black, and red, with blue and black being the most common. The reason there will always be red pens is because accounting -requires- red pens to do some of its work.

But, as most pens are blue or black, you need a color that contrasts with them so that corrections and teacher remarks are both visible, and easily distinguished from the students'.

So. Red.

Look, schools are about the process of learning, and some means need to be used to quantify if, in fact, learning has taken place. Mistakes ARE an important part of the learning process. In fact, the most basic process of learning, the one which all other learning processes build on... is trial-and-error. Without error, you do not have trial-and-error, and without trial-and-error, you do not have learning.

 

[SoulSalmon]

... So my generation is probably going to be the last one that hasn't been placed in a delicate cotton-lined bubble thats gonna pop the second they have to find a job?

This is just another case in a long string of cases that proves that people have taken things up to the Nazi standard >.>

 

[infohippie]

If we had a system of education that assigned "experience points" to certain fundamental concepts in different branches of education then we could create a system to educate students based on what they actually know instead of what they are supposed to know. For instance, you could have a student with a mathematics "level" of 3, a reading "level" of 5 and a science "level" of 4, that student could go to a math class for level 3 a reading course for level 5 and science class for level 4.

This way the student wouldn't be bored in a "level" 4 reading class, be falling behind in a "level" 4 math course and be perfect for the "level" 4 science class.

That's a really good idea. Do away with the whole idea of "years" ("grades" in the US). Everyone starts at "level 1" in all subjects, and have each subject's level completely unrelated to the level of every other subject. Students with a natural affinity for certain subjects will be able to reach advanced study in those areas quickly, while subjects you have a difficult time with you will progress through much more slowly and be able to stay in the lower levels of those subjects until you grasp them well enough to pass.

Graduation could require reaching certain minimum levels in all "core" subjects plus a particular level in two or three electives, with the overall time to reach graduation being irrelevant. A system like this could have served me so much better back when I was in school.

 

[infohippie]

Sorry, double post. Damn lying internets.

 

[FamoFunk]

Daily Mail article from 2008.

Yeah...

 

[thylasos]

As long as it's clear where the errors are and they're explained, I don't give much of a damn what colour the pen used to do it is.

Also, I wouldn't trust the Daily Fail, moreover a story in it from 2008, that much.

Y'know what makes me 'not want to live on this planet any more'?
People who take the Daily Mail seriously.

MUSLIM GAY IMMIGRANTS CARRY A NEW FORM OF AIDS THAT LOWERS HOUSE PRICES SAYS DIANA'S GHOST.

 

[Viral_Lola]

In high school, I had a teacher correct our homework in purple ink because we had a color blind student in the class. Also because she really liked the color purple. As for me? Eh... It's a color. Sure it's depressing when I get something back that looks like it had been used as a band-aid but I learn from my mistakes and try to not to make the same mistakes again.

 

[Leftnt Sharpe]

In high school, I had a teacher correct our homework in purple ink because we had a color blind student in the class. Also because she really liked the color purple. As for me? Eh... It's a color. Sure it's depressing when I get something back that looks like it had been used as a band-aid but I learn from my mistakes and try to not to make the same mistakes again.

That's because your teacher was actually a worshipper of Tzeentch hence the use of the purple pen. Most teachers are obviously followers of Khorne and must supply a constant stream of student blood and skulls for his mighty throne! This is why they use red pens. At least, that was how it worked at my school anyway...............

 

[Pat8u]

Im all for removing grades and replacing them with out of 100 scores to remove some of the dissapointment when you get a C instead you get a 50/100 which is pass and instead of moving on from a test just give the good students extension aswell as the bad students
but banning red ink is just strange

 

[A Username Not In Use]

yeah this article came from the daily mail so that does raise a question on how legit this story is

 

[azukar]

1. Daily Mail. 'nuff said.

2. I'm a teacher. I mark in whatever colour I happen to be holding. Red is easier to see. Some of my colleagues can't believe I'd ever mark in red and try to tell me not to do it.

3. What if a child does brilliantly? Will they still be demoralised by seeing a big "100%" in bright red?

4. (I'm a infants teacher) I get kids to do headings and emphasis in red pencil. Should this be banned too?

 

[Nouw]

Red attracts the eye and stands out, that's why it's used. I feel rather sorry for the people that genuinely believe that it's 'demoralizing.' So what if 1 person among at least 1000 have a problem?

 

[OrpheumZero]

This... is just stupid. It's demoralizing? Bull$hit! How else are kids gonna know the exact spots where they made a mistake? Black ink would just make it look like hasty scribblings, and most other colors wouldn't show up well (yellow being an obvious example). Besides, it's not like the teachers are writting "You stupid brat, you got this answer wrong you boneheaded dimwith!"

 

[El Luck]

There are threads that are utterly retarded, and this is one of them.

 

[TacticalAssassin1]

Yeah there are lots of new weird rules for schools. Students at my school are not allowed to raise their hands to answer a question.

Wait, what?
How are you supposed to ask a question?
Yell above the teacher? Send them an email?

 

[willsham45]

It is stupid to think some peoples minds actally work like that. To come up with that a solution to a none exsistant problem. Tell me what does that acheive.

Should they get ride of the A to F scoring system because those who get F's get depessed because of it.

Maybe they need to bring back the cane and encorage disaplin with drills and the like.

 

[Strazdas]

the question is why? what went on in the heads of people who figured this will improve anything?
Imo colour doesnt matter. ive seen teachers use anything from red to brown to even yellow. it doesnt do any difference. red is easy to use because it stands out, and thus its easy to notice the ratings and mistakes if there are any. it does not mean that teacher is shooing the kid for doing them, it mere shows that it is there. sure there are teachers who would underline a mistake and then tell you to figure it out on your own, but most show you the correction and thus you learn.

 

[Gromril]

[sub]hitchhiker's guide[/sub]

I'm in full support of reforming the school systems. Something like changing prison systems: The point isn't to punish people for mistakes, but to help rehabilitate them so that they can become better members of society. Simply telling someone they've failed and telling them they have no place in a civilised society beats the point.

If we have to start by removing the use of red ink, then, well, sure. Go for it.

This, I'm sick of prison and educational reform being seen as too soft. The aim is to educate children to the point where they are deemed to have a basic knolwege base when they reach a working age, not to advance the kind of 1950's hidden curriculum bullshit that the likes of the mail roll out like it's the miracle cure to social unrest.