Coloring assignments in School

[Rageaholic]

This takes me back several years. In kindergarten, I see them having some use (even though I had a bitch of a teacher who would yell at you if you colored outside of lines). However, as the years progressed, I saw them as less productive and more busy work. You know, teachers assigning stuff for the sake of assigning stuff. In 5th grade, I had a teacher who would give a standard math or reading assignment, then have some stupid picture she would want us to color. WTF? Why does it matter if it's colored or not? It was like she just wanted us to do it for the hell of it. And this was a teacher I liked too!

[Lace Neil Singer]

Sounds like a geography teacher I had who always used to tell us to colour the maps in. -.- I'm sure that was just busy work; unless there's a reason for it, such as separating US states or UK counties, it's just a waste of time.

[I8DaCookie]

My tenth grade social studies teacher was insane. We all knew it and heard about her when we entered high school. We'd all fear getting our schedules at the end of ninth grade and see that of all the choices for US History, we'd end up with her.

I and most of my friends got her. Why was she so feared?

She was so damned anal about our maps and how we colored them. She gave us specific rules such as: the color couldn't go even a small bit outside the line, there couldn't be any visilbe lines just a solid color, the color had to go in the same direction and etc. She would deduct points for every little thing that didn't fit her perfect little image of a properly colored map. I destroyed several colored pencils (specifically yellow, stupid USSR being so damned big and needing to be in yellow) just to make my map perfect.

I remember once she gave us a map in class that wasn't going to be graded and someone asked if we had to follow the rules. Reluctantly she said they didn't and we went crazy, purposfully broke all he rules.

When we were done with her class, it would often come up in other classes as jokes by the students if we had to follow the rules when given a coloring assignment. Some teachers got it and laughed, the new ones just looked at us weird as we laughed about it and explained the crazy teacher.

[Teysa]

Wow, I would have failed that social studies class big time. I still have trouble staying in the lines. (I can, but I have to concentrate really hard which takes the fun out of coloring.) My hand-eye coordination has never been the greatest.

One reason that I could see for the coloring assignments though, is to help the students who learn better by doing. Perhaps the act of coloring in Italy on the map, helps them remember the shape.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Wouldn't help me if I was forced to use a particular colour. If I want to colour a country, I want to choose the colour. -.-

[MaggieTheCat]

Sounds like a geography teacher I had who always used to tell us to colour the maps in.

I had a college geography professor who gave us those kinds of assignments. I love art and like to color, but still, I thought it was a bit...underwhelming for a college level class.

[powerboy]

I have always liked doing those. I love art and I still like to color. Well take out a paper and use color pencils or paint. Which reminds me, I need to get more color pencils and pint markers

[bunnyboy]

..specifically yellow, stupid USSR being so damned big and needing to be in yellow.

Wait what, needing to be in Yellow,I may have only been JUST in middle school when all the Former Soviet Republics became their various -stans and such, but damned if early on most teachers I had had it colored.... what else, RED.

[Nyoibo]

In 5th grade, I had a teacher who would give a standard math or reading assignment, then have some stupid picture she would want us to color. WTF?

I had a teacher that did that, but the picture was a colour by numbers and each colour had an equation by it, so it was actually work.

[Rageaholic]

I had a teacher that did that, but the picture was a colour by numbers and each colour had an equation by it, so it was actually work.

That's actually pretty creative. It's just that my teacher would always through in some random coloring thing into any assignment. It all seemed pointless. Like making you do something for the sake of doing it.

[Boozy]

Ah, colouring assignments.

It reminds me of my first day of high school. I was so excited about actually learning something! My first period class was geography. Geography! We never had such a thing in my elementary school! I was going to learn about people and places and cultures around the globe.

First assignment: Here is a photocopy of a world map. Sit quietly and colour it in for the next hour.

Tomorrow: Cut colourful pictures out of these old magazines (mostly People and Reader's Digest -- no National Geographic or anything like that). Make a pretty, pretty collage based on some bullshit theme I have since forgotten.

Thankfully, my other classes were better. But I was deeply disappointed to be given such nonsense assignments at that age.

[Lace Neil Singer]

My main problem with colouring in maps was the fact that firstly it was pointless, and second, the teachers always chose the colours. -.- I always loved to colour as a child, but I hated being told what colours to use. I remember being in art class in primary and painting a pink and black lamb; the teacher told me I could paint the lamb whatever colours I liked, rather than saying "Lambs are either white or brown, paint accordingly".

[Fryk]

If lambs are only brown, black and white, then why are there blue sweaters, huh? HUH???

[XCashier]

If lambs are only brown, black and white, then why are there blue sweaters, huh? HUH???

That lamb ate a lot of blueberries, silly!

[jackfaire]

That lamb ate a lot of blueberries, silly!

Nope he ate a stick of gum he saw. It was so good like a three course meal.