The Boston Globe reports that teachers are coming to the horrifying realization that they themselves have been terrorizing their students by grading papers with red ink. Many are switching to purple.
"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."
Color psychologists are quick to endorse the idea:
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....they said with a straight face.
"The concept of purple as a replacement for red is a pretty good idea," said Leatrice Eiseman, director of the Pantone Color Institute in Carlstadt, N.J., and author of five books on color. "You soften the blow of red. Red is a bit over-the-top in its aggression."
Yes, I know they're dead serious about this. But I also am dead serious in my conviction that the public schools are becoming more and more preoccupied with producing emotionally-shielded wimps who are completely unprepared to face life in the real world. If unregulated free play and red ink on papers are so harmful, how did any of us survive grade school psychologically intact?
3 comments:
Reader 'chocolate' writes:Ummmm, as purple now means your grade - whether it is good or bad - how long will it take before purple gets the negative connotation?
The idea to eliminate these things comes not from the teachers themselves, but from administrators and their lawyers. Unfortunately we are at the mercy of the parents in their efforts to alleviate their own guilt at not spending time with their children. It is they who have determined that teachers should not use red ink, not allow physical contact, and not allow children to become responsible free thinkers. Many lawsuits have led to this result. If school districts were allowed to follow the research and knowledge of our profession, we would be able to do the job we wish to do.
It is not just the schools who are to blame, but the parents as well. Parents have allowed children to become the rulers of the households in this effort to avoid guilt and avoid personal responsibility. Who does the homework for the kid, who carries his/her backpack for them, and who assumes the other person is always at fault when their child has a conflict, even when the other person is a teacher?
An example: A couple of years ago I sent a progress report home with a failing grade for one of my students because he did not turn in an assignment. The parent actually said to me, "He can't have failed that assingment. I know he did it. Did you look in his backpack?" I had forgotten MY responsibility to frisk my students for their assignments.
Chellee,
Thanks for your comments. While I acknowledge that risk-averse administrators are driving much of the silliness found in modern public schools, the Boston Globe article cited attributes the purple-ink trend to the teachers themselves.
I'm totally with you regarding the parents.
I wish you well in your efforts to be an excellent teacher in spite of all of the handicaps placed on you.
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