Yeah, Right, Whatever

Last year, we homeschooled the boys. It was a lot of fun, and we all learned a lot. Not just about the academic subjects, but about ourselves and our family. (For example, I learned that I'm not too bad at teaching science and history, but grammar and writing? Nope. Hubby's pretty good at explaining math. T2 is a bit of a procrastinator, while T1 will almost rush to get things finished. We all became big fans of the History Channel and the Discovery Channel's MythBusters, and I became a big big fan of the concept of accidental learning.) When I was getting everything ready for the school year, I made sure we had plenty of paper and pencils, and that we had all the right books, etc. And I made sure I had a red pen or two. Over the year, that pen became known as "The Red Pen of Doom." (yeah, right. The only Bs the boys made last year were in Spelling. Doom, indeed.)

Well, I guess my love of red ink would disqualify me from teaching at Daniel Farm Elementary School.

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.

Red ink is stressful? Maybe if parents and school districts concentrated on teaching kids what they need to know instead of worrying about their self esteem issues, then there would be less red (or purple or whatever) on the page and a little less stress.

"My generation was brought up on right or wrong with no in between, and red was always in your face," Kazmark said. "It's abrasive to me." (no, really? Oh, no! Right or wrong with no in between? I'm sorry, but 2+2=4... end of discussion- B) Purple is just a little bit more gentle. Part of my job is to be attuned to what kids respond to, and red is not one of those colors."
Three top pen and marker manufacturers — Bic, Pilot Pen and Sanford, which produces Papermate and Sharpie — are making more purple pens in response to rising sales. School leaders and teachers are largely driving that demand, company representatives say.
"They're trying to be positive and reinforcing rather than being harsh," said Robert Silberman, Pilot Pen's vice president of marketing. "Teachers are taking that to heart."
The disillusionment with red is part of a broader shift in grading, said Vanessa Powell, a fifth-grade teacher at Snowshoe Elementary School in Wasilla, Alaska.
"It's taken a turn from 'Here's what you need to improve on' to 'Here's what you've done right,' " Powell said. "It's not that we're not pointing out mistakes, it's just that the method in which it's delivered is more positive."

You know, I don't have a problem with teachers pointing out what a student does right. As long as they continue to point out errors and teach them how to do better. Touchy feely on its own isn't going to work, though.

"I don't think changing to purple or green will make a huge difference if the teaching doesn't go along with it," Jones said. "If you're just looking at avoiding the color red, the students might not be as frightened, but they won't be better writers."

Oh, my! A voice of reason! It's about time.

I want my children to grow up educated and self-confident, with a good level of reasoning and common sense. I want them to know that, most of the time, there is a right answer and a wrong answer, and gray areas only appear in the Arts (and not even then, sometimes). If I had the funds and knew for sure that I wasn't going to totally screw up my boys' chances for college and the careers of their choice, I'd pull them back out of public school and put them in a structured private (religious) school or homeschool them again. (Yeah, I know that there are good public schools out there, and amazing public school teachers. But, as a whole, I'm unimpressed.) Yes, I would still have my red pen of doom- it didn't seem to bother them much last year. I know T1 would love it- he already told me so.