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

[sekhmets-song.livejournal.com]

I think that we are worrying way too much about stressing kids out. If the kids stressed studying a little more, most of them would see fewer marks of any color. Let them be stressed out. Let them learn that it is better to avoid the stress by striving to do better on schoolwork.
I do worry when the school systems are more concerned about keeping the kids happy at every possible moment that about educating them to be thoughtful, skillful, capable adults.

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear!

[cellio]

Damn straight! Our society is way too worried about coddling people and enabling undesirable behavior for fear of offense. It's not mean to challenge people, and we are not doing anyone a favor by catering to these whims.

When I was in grade school I read a story -- details long since forgotten -- about a blind kid who was walking indoors somewhere and smacked his shin on the corner of a coffee table (or some such). He said "someone should put padding on that" and the response he got was "life is full of unpadded corners; you need to learn to deal with them". These days someone would likely charge discrimination against the person who put the table there, even though it was not at all willful. Sad.

[profane-stencil.livejournal.com]

I do worry when the school systems are more concerned about keeping the kids happy at every possible moment than about educating them to be thoughtful, skillful, capable adults.

The former probably seems easier to do. And they have to take tests to prove the latter.