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Purple Is the New Red?

Wednesday, September 1st, 2004 at 8:06 PM Category: Meryl's Notes Blog No comments

A growing number of students are no longer seeing red. Instead, purple is in as it’s supposedly “friendlier” than red on graded papers. Didn’t some feller named Bill say, “A rose by any other name smells just as sweet?”

If the use of purple catches on, then eventually it will become a “bad news” or “scary” color just like red is perceived today. Does this sound like something the pen manufacturers started to boost business to stay out of the “red”?

Have we become so wimpy that we worry about kids’ reactions to the color of corrections? On the other hand, we do live in a highly competitive society and it’s putting more stress on children more than ever and starting at a younger age than in when I was a kid.

As a writer and editor, I don’t care what color the corrections are in as long as it’s readable. Furthermore, I use a word processor’s tracking tool and the colors vary. Most of the time it’s blue and I’m not afraid of blue.

Kids are using computers in the classroom as soon as they enter school and they’re sure to discover this handy tracking feature before long. Then color won’t matter.

When I was a student, red appeared on many of my papers, not all bad. Hey, many A’s and 90′s appeared in red ink. I didn’t get a heartburn over that. Not all corrections are about “what’s wrong.” They also report good grades and show how to make the work better. Isn’t it what it’s supposed to be about? Learning and improving?

If my editors didn’t do their jobs, my writing would not have grown and changed for the better. It’s amazing to read old college papers and see the difference in my writing.

How about instead of the “new purple,” we just have a rainbow pen set and grab whatever is nearby or what we feel like using? After all, how many adults get to pick a color? Be a kid again and make your corrections stand out with your favorite color or the one that best depicts your mood for the day.