Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Never Underestimate the Power of Human Stupidity: Part III

Red is a big no-no for grading papers, so say some educators. We should use "softer, less abrasive" colors. What happens if your errors are marked with purple, does that become an "abrasive" color. Homework is about learning through repitition and study. Testing is about seeing how well the student and the educational system work together to learn and teach. Using red is traditional, but it does stand out so it can be easily seen by both the student and the grader.

Well, one way to reduce the abrasiveness is not to require homework or testing, that way the student will never be faced with something ego shattering as a wrong answer. They learn little and can't survive after they graduate.

It's amazing that people actually go to college and get (multiple) degrees in education and style themselves as professional educators, only to come up with new, more "sensitive" ways to dumb down education and the American students. Wonder if that's the way the pro's in Japan, China and India (or competitors) do it? I don't think so.

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