Compassionate by colour, that is:
Manufacturers of pens and markers report a surge in teachers' demands for purple ink pens. When marked in red, corrections of students' tests seem so awfully judgmental. At a Connecticut school, parents consider red markings "stressful." A Pittsburgh principal favors more "pleasant-feeling tones." An Alaska teacher says substituting purple for red is compassionate pedagogy, a shift from "Here's what you need to improve on" to "Here's what you have done right."Er... but maybe the stressfulness is also in the content of the correction. I mean, I'd rather have 'Good point' or 'This is an interesting idea, Prunella' written in red in the margin of my essay (except it wouldn't then be 'Prunella', I hope), than 'You've got your facts wrong', 'Try harder' or 'Are you dumb or what?!' written in purple or indeed any colour. Moreover, furthermore or even in addition, if critical comments are from now on to be written in purple or other more 'pleasant-feeling tones', these might start to feel less pleasant. Unless of course there are to be no critical comments at all.
Well done, Gary. Though you appear to have made no effort and show yourself entirely ignorant of the topic, this paper contains many commendable features. It certainly made me laugh. Etc.Over time red might even come to be a non-judgemental colour. Or people might come to stop making judgements. Or judges might start knitting people. Or knitters might knit while running marathons. The possibilities are fascinating, but I cannot further explore them with you here.