Teachers outlaw red ink--would my accountant please do the same?

Now I think that I have truly seen everything when it comes to modern changes and so called “improvements” in America’s government educational system. I just read (no pun intended) an article in the Boston Globe newspaper discussing the increasing trend in the teaching profession of moving away from the use of red ink in favor of the color purple for grading student’s work:

http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2004/08/23/harshness_of_red_
marks_has_students_seeing_purple/.

"I do not use red," said Robin Slipakoff, who teaches second and third grades at Mirror Lake Elementary School in Plantation, Fla. "Red has a negative connotation, and we want to promote self-confidence. I like purple. I use purple a lot."

Say what, lady? You can’t really be serious, can you? Give me a break, would you please?

Why can’t the politicians and the teachers unions get over the idea of promoting self-confidence/self-esteem by diluting and dumbing down the public (government) school curriculums (or is it curriculii?) How hard can it be for an average student to earn an “A” in a class in which the informational value consists of nothing but total crappolla?

Low standards aside, now they are worrying about the color of the ink used to grade papers? When I was in school, I personally didn’t care if you smeared my test paper with doggie dung. If my answers are wrong, they are wrong and my education would have suffered if I didn’t get on the ball and learn what ever it is that you are trying to teach me. That is, of course, unless you were teaching something like today’s modern, revisionist, hate-America-first history lessons or some tree-hugging, enviro-eco-fascist global warming theories of doom and destruction, in which case I’d just cruise on through class with my eyes closed, take my B that you would inevitably deliver for A quality work because of my outspoken religious and political beliefs, and then get on to my calculus and physics classes—thank you very much.

Forget about worrying about ink color, I have some suggestions for promoting self-confidence in the classroom (and in life in general.) I believe that it’s a tried and true method. It certainly worked well for me for about 24 odd years over which I spread my 16 years worth of educational experience. Try this, Mr./Mrs./other teacher or professor:

How about providing a classroom environment that actually promotes learning, a curriculum that has relevant course content, and then reward superior performance with superior grades—to hell with student’s self-esteem and what the parents of the students earning C’s, D’s, and F’s think.

Mark the student’s mistakes with the entire rainbow of colored pencils and pens if you must—just mark the errors each and every time. And by the way, it would greatly help if you actually developed some skills to successfully teach your students something while they are in your class, not just baby-sit them through 55 minutes of mind-numbing, politically correct prattle.

And another thing, when I was in grade school, the grade distribution actually looked something like a “bell curve.” Of course, your high falluting, modern teaching education probably omitted this concept when you were pursuing your teaching degree in the local mish-mash vo-tech/teachers’ college. For your reference, the “bell curve” grade distribution meant that a grade of C was average, and roughly half of the grades fell above and half fell below the grade of C. None of this all A’s and B’s or pass/fail stuff. Georgia’s Hope Scholarship qualifications be damned, either you learned it or you didn’t. After graduation from high school, on the night shift drive-through register at McDonalds, its too late to find out about and correct a lifetime of artificially enhanced self-esteem.” Would you like an order of fries with that concept?

Oh, I know that the trend is, after graduation, that you can always go to the polls and vote for a political candidate that will assist you in evening out the playing field when it comes to life’s rewards and benefits. You can always cast your vote and attempt to legislate things like your “right” to health care, your “right” to a high minimum wage, your “right” to retirement benefits, your “right” to unlimited paid family leave, and your “right” to a vacation at Disney every 12 months, and even your “right” to not be insulted and your "right" to have high self-esteem throughout your entire life.

If you can just get that new Escalade with the DVD and spinner rims legislated, then you can sit back and live your life on cruise control for the next 30 or so years, spending your generous spare time reading People Magazine and watching Entertainment Tonight to get your news and information on current events. I hear that they have lots of pretty pictures for you to look at and of course they wouldn’t dare attempt to confuse you with too many facts about complex issues. Got to protect that fragile self-esteem, don't we?

Red enough? (Pun intended.)