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Harshness of red marks has students seeing purple

A mix of red and blue, the color purple embodies red's sense of authority but also blue's association with serenity, making it a less negative and more constructive color for correcting student papers, color psychologists said. Purple calls attention to itself without being too aggressive. And because the color is linked to creativity and royalty, it is also more encouraging to students.
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Good golly. I think an 'A' looks great no matter what the color - and likewise an 'F'. I wouldn't really care all that much about the fact that, say, the thirty questions I missed were all circled in a color "linked to creativity and royalty".
 
When you screw up in the real world, do you think your boss is likely to mark it in purple ink so that you don't feel bad about yourself. No. It's going to be black ink on a pink slip. Out the door. I would think that with all the problems talked about in our education system, teachers would have more important things to do than psychoanalyze the color of grading ink. Sheesh.
 
"If you see a whole paper of red, it looks pretty frightening," said Sharon Carlson, a health and physical education teacher at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Northampton. "Purple stands out, but it doesn't look as scary as red."
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She's a gym teacher. Maybe middle school has changed since I went a little more than a half-dozen years ago but how many papers does she grade. For me gym/health was pretty much you show up, dress out for PE, run around the basketball court and get an A.

Red is scary.
I like purple better
 
I hate to say it, but sometimes people need to know they suck, in the harsh way.

It happened to me, and all it did was light my fire to work harder. We are raising a generation of wet-noodles who think mediocrity is okay because their teachers/parents dont want to hurt their feelings.

Go ahead and play XBox joey...mommy will make sure to write a note to your teachers why your homework isnt done
 
That is about as dumb as at gets.....with both of my parents being teachers....I see a lot of red pens and couldn't imagine them not using red to correct papers....I guess it is part of the "school tradition".

If you don't like the red, do better, that way you will see less of it ;)
 
i dont usually have a lot of red markings on my papers but my teachers usually put the grade in black. imo the color doesnt matter, it's what the comments say. if the teacher says "good effort, but you need to fix blah blah blah" theyre just catering to the pansies. i think teachers should say. "blah blah blah is wrong. fix it." but my 7th grade english teacher 2 years ago would say "there are 3 things wrong with this paper. find and fix them." that damn b!tch...the worst teacher ever....
 
mlw1235 said:
That is about as dumb as at gets....
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Y'know, I am constantly amazed at how there doesn't seem to be any lower limit to stupid ideas.

Just when what was surely the most inane concept to ever blight the world has crawled across your screen and died, someone proposes something even more fundamentally lame and dysfunctional, all with a straight face...

Its like quantum physics or something, infinite alternate worlds of stupidity to explore. :eek:
 
mac_head101 said:
Wow, that's stupid. I think Aquamarine is more negative than puce... :rolleyes:
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Yes, that does seem some what stupid.

You know, I think I heard somewhere that red is a symbol of anger, and constantly seing red can make you in a bad mood.

Blueish/purple on the other hand, is suppost to look calm and relaxing.

Thats why I have my desktop look blue/purple, it does wonders for my temper. :)
 
But if we used purple for all those caution, warning, stop signs, and incorrect markings, then everyone will be scared of purple.

And why did they waste the money and time of a "color psychologist" on this drivel? A color psychologist? Give me an ***** break. :rolleyes:
 
iLikeMyiMac said:
She's a gym teacher. Maybe middle school has changed since I went a little more than a half-dozen years ago but how many papers does she grade. For me gym/health was pretty much you show up, dress out for PE, run around the basketball court and get an A.

Red is scary.
I like purple better
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Where I work, the written tests are part of phys. ed. curriculum. It still blows me away, when I see them taking tests, rather than running around doing something.
 
Abstract said:
But if we used purple for all those caution, warning, stop signs, and incorrect markings, then everyone will be scared of purple.

And why did they waste the money and time of a "color psychologist" on this drivel? A color psychologist? Give me an ***** break. :rolleyes:
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I agree that it's a learned response. It's all a make everyone feel better, can't have someone feeling bad. When will America wake, some kids do well and other don't. It would be boring if everyone was good in the same thing.
 
I used to teach writing, and I was advised by my boss not to use red ink. The point is to make students better writers. If they've had previous bad experiences with red ink, why not use some other color? If that helps get students "on my side," I'm more likely to be able to help them improve. If not, no harm's been done.

Not a very big deal, one way or another: what's more important is WHAT YOU WRITE in the comments. For example, writing "you are an incompetent writer" in any color is a harmful and abusive comment.
 
MongoTheGeek said:
I think the color aversion thing is learned. Red is only scary because it is used for bad things. Stop signs, warning labels, failing grades.

Its all a pavlovian response...
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Actually, I think I've read it's apparently more of a Darwinian response, red is the colour of blood. Unlike say blue, yellow or green - sky, sea, sun, grass, tree etc - all nice comforting not-bleeding-to-death things like that! :p
 
hmm as far as i remember our teachers used green,red and purple..some teacher corrcted an exam in brown once and of course alot of other colours
i haven't noticed any differences...bad marks are bad marks
 
Yeah, funny, all my college professors grade everything in plain black pen, and a whole bunch of black writing is every bit as scary as a whole bunch of red writing.

Only difference is red STANDS OUT, so you can actually find the comments amidst your own scribbling.

This is what teachers spend their time on these days?
 
Makosuke said:
Yeah, funny, all my college professors grade everything in plain black pen, and a whole bunch of black writing is every bit as scary as a whole bunch of red writing.

Only difference is red STANDS OUT, so you can actually find the comments amidst your own scribbling.

This is what teachers spend their time on these days?
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Agreed entirely.
 
I had a 6th grade teacher who wouldn't let me go to recess just so she could tell me that I am a "ding bat" And that I was the worst student in the class.

I think I would have probably liked a red mark instead.

Oh and I was a b+ student and was in the top 5 in my class. :eek:
 
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