I might understand not using red in elementary school but when I was in high school, homework was graded mostly in red, it did not matter on the grade ... there were red F's to red A's ... however, the psychology teacher did not believe in red ink for grading ... instead she used purple and green ...Grading in red never made me discouraged ... but maybe that's b/c I was an A student.
When I become a teacher I am planning on mixing it up with many different colors
I grade in red, I am a high school teacher, no kid has ever told me this bothered them. I grade in red b/c I can see it better against the contrast of greens, purples, blues, blacks, and sometimes gold inks the kids use.
An F is a failing grade and says you need to try harder or get help if you don't understand.
I think the kids can tell the difference between their blood and red ink.
We used to call red marks on our papers indications of where our teachers bled on our papers. I had one instructor that needed a few transfusions after he graded my papers.
I always got graded in red ink. It never hurt my self esteem. I think if a child is that distressed by the color of a teachers grading pen, they *probably* have some more serious issues going on...
This reminds me of a story I heard a few years ago.
A student was working on an assignment and accidently spilled a few drops of his water on the paper. He circled the drops and wrote "SWEAT" on the paper.
A few days later the teacher returned the paper with a few water marks of her own circled with the word "TEARS"
I caught the tail end of this discussion on the radio yesterday. All I have to say is, oh, please, can't they think of something else to pick apart. Red is a stand out color, it never meant anything to me because all grades, whether failing or passing, were in red. I think people tend to over analyze things sometimes.
I've actually heard this too and from a psychological point of view, I can certainly understand why red should be discouraged. I think the idea about changing the colors is perfect, that way no color is singled out!