Australian Teachers Told Marking In Red Damages Students

Teachers who mark homework with a red pen could be inflicting psychological damage on their students, according to new Australian guidelines. Teachers are being urged to use less aggressive colors, like the-real-world-is-going-to-eat-you-alive green, and setting-you-up-for-failure blue. Stephen Robertson, the Queensland health minister, defended the new rules, saying that youth suicide was a serious issue. "If mental health professionals determine that as one of a number of strategies teachers should consider, then I'll support them every day of the week," he said. "This is not a matter for ridicule, this is serious."

Comments

help them prepare for the real world

[petes_PoV]

Don't give handwritten responses (in any colour). Instead, emulate what will happen then the little darlings get out into the big wide world of commerce and industry. Make them email their assignments in, then completely ignore them. When pressed (for the third or fourth time) to mark them, skim the first couple of sentences and award a purely random mark based solely on that.

Re:Use red for positive marks!

[Just Some Guy]

I do remember one person saying that red was a kinda depressing colour

Sure, because it means you made a mistake. Green will be depressing as soon as it comes to imply that Little Johnny is less than perfect.