short takes

[cellio]

Funny: Only in... $location.

Overheard in the office: "Should that be on fire?"

From the whiners-with-too-much-time-on-their-hands department, a new education fad: some parents (and students) object to grading in red ink. Red is "stressful", some say, and teachers should be using more "positive" colors like blue. Sheesh. Some people will read negativity into anything. It's just a color, people! And for the record, I much prefer mark-up in red as opposed to blue or the fluffy alternatives like turquoise (which is too light to be able to see easily). Red has the best contrast with the black ink on the white page; if you want me to see your little squiggle, don't use lime green!

Comments

[jeannegrrl.livejournal.com]

re: red ink

One of my teachers in college was famous for her green pen of death. One day I asked her why she used green instead of red, and she said something along the lines of "she thought it would be less stressful" to the students. I guarantee you, when you get an essay returned to you with green writing all over it, it's JUST AS STRESSFUL as if it were in red! :-)

Sheesh!

[tangerinpenguin.livejournal.com]

The tech writer for my first job (cellio may remember Trish) used green as well, just to be different. And I can agree that we learned to dread the "vulcan blood of typographic death" that all but dripped from our drafts just as much, or more, than red...