Stick with red > Why ‘rainbow marking’ students’ assignments is a waste of time Elliot Chan Opinions Editor hen it comes to painting, I enjoy seeing a piece of work that skillfully incorporates the full range of the colour spectrum. However, when it comes to homework assignments, receiving a marked page with two, three, four different colours in not only disarming, but also a bit confusing. In an effort to soften the “aggressive” tone of criticism, teachers in Europe and North America have been testing out a new form of marking, where different colour pens are used to classify different types of feedback. For example, a green marking can represent grammar error, purple can represent inaccuracy, and blue can represent misspelling. This technique is coined “rainbow marking.” While it may seem like an invigorating way to help students recognize their mistakes, we also must remember that a significant part of a teacher’s job is marking. Having them go the extra mile to pick up different pens to mark different errors seems like an unproductive use of their cognitive energy and time. For the students, it leaves a whole new level of confusion. If they don’t understand how they made their mistake to begin with, changing the colour of the marking is not going to educate them any better. They might be able to see that the green mark means they should have removed the comma and added a period, but they wouldn’t know why. They know it is wrong, but they don’t know the principles of their mistakes. The root of the problem is never resolved. As for the argument that the colour red is “too aggressive” for students, I say: “toughen up.” You cannot coddle students forever with pretty colours. This type of teaching reinforces the idea that some errors are less important than other errors. When I was in grade school, a common question that would pop up whenever an assignment was due was “does spelling count?” For some reason, we felt that the accuracy of our spelling should not compromise the content of our homework. Of course spelling counts. How will anyone understand what you wrote if you don’ spell properly? Yes, some errors are more glaring than others, but if we want our students to strive for perfection, we cannot say that that mistake is better than another. We need to be aggressive if we want results. In Western culture, we put too much onus on the little Subtext is not representation > Marginalized people who want to see themselves reflected in media shouldn't have to squint Rebecca Peterson Staff Writer [I a world where the representation of queer people is so desperately lacking, some of the glaring examples of gay characters usually fall within the twilight realm of stereotyping. I’m never thrilled to see promiscuous bisexual characters who cheat on their partners and are “just confused,” or strawman lesbians who are physically aggressive and “hate all men,” or gay male characters who speak with a lisp and limp-wrist their way through statements like “Oh, I’m just one of the girls!” At the same time, I think some content creators have veered completely to the other end of the spectrum. In their novels makes a certain amount of sense to me, but what I find galling is that to this day, I still hear people say that Dumbledore is an excellent example of a gay character as “you would never know he was gay.” No, he isn’t. He’s an interesting character to be certain, and I’m glad that Rowling, at least, acknowledged the existence of queer people by making his sexuality known, but I think it’s a bit of a cop out to try to claim that Dumbledore counts as queer representation. “But Rebecca,” you might say, “it’s a kid’s book. Why are you trying to push the gay agenda into a kid’s book?” I would love to get my hands on this gay agenda everyone talks about, honestly. That and the “literal desperation not to homosexual stereotype, steamroller” the they seem ; , late Reverend to have Ithink we asasociety [itmssricl tum have all reached a spoke of all the “safe” ; those years ago. attitude of point where we can But I digress. “if people Because wantts acknowledge wet: the very see it, queer people exist. notion of they'll see homosexuality, it. If they bisexuality, don’t want and what have to see it, you, has been they don't so intensely have to.” sexualized over An example of this would be JK Rowling’s statement, post- series, that Dumbledore is gay. Her decision not to include his sexuality as a plot point in the the years, many balk at the idea of including these narratives in a visible way in the mainstream. It doesn’t have to be this way. “What will I tell my kids?” Well, you don’t immediately have to skip over to the conversation about strap-on dildos just because they saw two girls kissing on screen, but I suppose that’s your choice as a parent if you do. I think we as a society have all reached a point where we can acknowledge that queer people exist. It’s no longer popular to be outwardly homophobic. However, I still often hear comments such as “I don’t mind gay people, I just don’t want them flaunting it in my face!” I have bad news for you: nuisances of the teachers. We call out the teachers for the students’ mistakes. It’s clear that “rainbow marking” is another system of testing the instructors, not the students. It allows a third party to look at the marked paper and say, “Well, the teacher is clearly incompetent. He used a blue pen here when clearly he should have used an orange pen.” Why not just mark the paper with a pencil? Why you do, in fact, mind gay people. If your favourite type of gay character is one where you can easily mistake them for a straight person, you mind gay people. If I, as a queer woman, have to live my life consuming popular media where heterosexual people can kiss each other like their tongues are tonsil-seeking missiles and still only garner a PG rating overall, then I think straight people can handle a little more than vague references when it comes to queer characters. There is no denying that things are definitely starting Image via thinkstock not just allow the student to erase it afterward so they can feel better? If the teachers are hired to do the job, then trust their judgment. Let them stick with the tried-and-true system: red pens for marking. c oO ‘p o . 5 a > fe] Po ° = a to improve in terms of representation. But the last thing I want is for content creators to fall into a pattern of thinking that subtext is not only a perfectly acceptable way to write queer characters, but the ideal. Iam very good at squinting, at making assumptions, at connecting the dots and hoping, because as a queer lady in real life that is what I have to do. However, when I go to the movies, I would love to see myself represented on screen. More importantly, I would love to know that other people are seeing it too.