--- title: U.K. School Bans Red Ink for Corrections Because It's Too Mean description: An academy in Cornwall has instructed teachers to not use red ink because students might find it too negative, suggesting green instead. canonical: https://time.com/31960/school-bans-teachers-from-using-red-ink-because-its-too-mean/ author: Kyle Chayka article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-20T16:42:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:07:59.588Z og:title: School Bans Red Ink Because It’s too Mean og:description: An academy in Cornwall has instructed teachers to not use red ink because students might find it too negative, suggesting green instead og:url: https://time.com/31960/school-bans-teachers-from-using-red-ink-because-its-too-mean/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8a8b1ca1b519c15/698686611eebf72c6336fef0/redpen_time.png?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: redpen_time og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: School Bans Red Ink Because It’s too Mean twitter:description: An academy in Cornwall has instructed teachers to not use red ink because students might find it too negative, suggesting green instead twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8a8b1ca1b519c15/698686611eebf72c6336fef0/redpen_time.png?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # School Bans Teachers From Using Red Ink Because It's Too Mean by [Kyle Chayka](https://time.com/author/kyle-chayka/) ## Kyle Chayka Mar 20, 2014 4:42 PM UTC  Rory MacLeod / Flickr by [Kyle Chayka](https://time.com/author/kyle-chayka/) ## Kyle Chayka Mar 20, 2014 4:42 PM UTC Kids these days, they can’t handle any negativity. Stereotypical millennials always need to be rewarded for their accomplishments whether or not they actually accomplished anything. Now, one school is taking this to heart by banning red ink. At an academy in the U.K. county of Cornwall, teachers have been instructed not to grade papers in red pen because it is a “very negative color,” vice principal Jennie Hick told the [_Daily Mail_](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2584672/School-bans-red-ink-tells-teachers-mark-green-instead-pupils-respond-purple.html). Green was suggested instead for corrections (the opposite of red, we supposed). What’s more, teachers are encouraged to write “two or three positive comments” about the work handed in, and students can respond to their teachers’ comments in purple. Wonder what color they’ll write their diary entry in when, as adults, they realize everything is a lie and they are not actually special snowflakes? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/31960/school-bans-teachers-from-using-red-ink-because-its-too-mean/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/31960/school-bans-teachers-from-using-red-ink-because-its-too-mean/"},"headline":"School Bans Teachers From Using Red Ink Because It's Too Mean","datePublished":"2014-03-20T16:42:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:07:59.588Z","description":"Can students not handle being wrong?","url":"https://time.com/31960/school-bans-teachers-from-using-red-ink-because-its-too-mean/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Millennials","School","Education"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8a8b1ca1b519c15/698686611eebf72c6336fef0/redpen_time.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kyle Chayka","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kyle-chayka/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8a8b1ca1b519c15/698686611eebf72c6336fef0/redpen_time.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"redpen_time","caption":"","creditText":"Rory MacLeod / Flickr","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/31960/school-bans-teachers-from-using-red-ink-because-its-too-mean/","name":"School Bans Teachers From Using Red Ink Because It's Too Mean"}}]}] ```