H. L. Mencken was right.

My roommate's daughter's teacher uses an aqua colored pen. The shame.

And instead of marking the wrong answers 'wrong' I guess they should be marked 'hmmm interesting, way to think outside the status quo'

I found red-pen markings extremely stressful on my papers. Did any of you not?? I would look at a math quiz covered in red pen markings and feel the sink of despair.

Red pen stressed me the hell OUT: The fear of being graded, and not doing well, in general.

Teachers using red pen gave me incentive to do better the next time, so I wouldn't have to experience a heart attack seeing all that red pen all over my essays and quizzes.

Used to be extremely unpleasant. But oddly enough, I learned a great deal more from those teachers and professors who pushed me than I did from those who were more concerned with me being comfortable.

Robert:

I know. I agree. That is exactly my point. I'm just saying that to say it's not STRESSFUL is to forget what it was like. Being pushed by teachers is stressful.

Oh forget it. You're misunderstanding my point.

Um....I guess I am because I thought I was agreeing with you. I never suggested red pens and grading in general weren't stressful. Instead, I was trying to say that maybe this is a good kind of stress in the long run.

And the stress kids have to deal with nowadays; jeez in the past all they had to worry about was drought, famine, plague, wars, small pox, economic depressions. Today, if you put a red mark where little Timmy wrote 2 + 2 = 5, hoo boy, that is real stress. Maybe we should send the kids to a nice relaxing place like Afghanistan.

...

*sigh*

The mind truly boggles. If I had not already decided that home or private schooling is in The Lad's future, this would have been the nail in the coffin.

Oh, wait, imagery of death -- that's stressful, huh? OK, it would have been the straw that broke the... Er the final brick in th...

Screw it.