Toward More Gentle Correction: Purple is New Red

Here's an AP story via CNN about how teachers are shying away from using red ink to correct assignments because parents and students find it "stressful" and "abrasive."  Many teachers are switching to the more "gentle" purple, and the three top pen manufacturers, Bic, Pilot Pen and Sanford are responding by upping production of purple implements.

The disillusionment with red is part of broader shift in grading, said Vanessa Powell, a fifth-grade teacher at Snowshoe Elementary School in Wasilla, Alaska.

"It's taken a turn from 'Here's what you need to improve on' to 'Here's what you've done right,"' Powell said. "It's not that we're not pointing out mistakes, it's just that the method in which it's delivered is more positive."

Reading and writing specialist Janet Jones provides a little bit of sense in the article:

"I don't think changing to purple or green will make a huge difference if the teaching doesn't go along with it," Jones said. "If you're just looking at avoiding the color red, the students might not be as frightened, but they won't be better writers."

I was thinking of naming my editorial business "Red Pen Editorial Services."  I wonder if I would lose clients if I did this?  This is the sort of story that makes me realize I could easily turn into Andy Rooney.