Community Chat

[Shorty2U]

I agree with you OP. I taught my youngest granddaughter to write cursive last Summer because i heard that they don't have it in school. And my oldest granddaughter DID have cursive and still uses it to write on index cards to study for tests and she is on high honors, so yes I believe cursive is still important! Plus you need to sign documents and will need to sign them by the time all of my grandkids are out of school!

And on a side note here; Now I have become aware that in high school driver ed is done on a computer screen as in virtual driving! That is SO stupid to me! We went out in real cars in school! Well my 1 granddaughter is learning to drive and she was controlling the car like a video remote at first making the wheel jerk! Why? Because of virtual driving in school. (Now she is getting it and driving better but the first days she wasn't steering correctly).

Its my opinion modern technology is fine but SOME things need to remain the same as they used to be.

[insomniac2]

Long ago, when I was in grade school, I received excellent grades in all subjects--except handwriting.

By the time I was in 8th grade, I had developed a method of taking notes that was, in essence, my own shorthand. I still use this. (I am secretary of three organizations, and I take the minutes this way. Then, of course, I use a computer to type them out so others can read them.)

My personal handwriting combines both printing and cursive.

I am a hundred percent okay with cursive not being taught.

[Noel7]

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@Blahblahvampemer wrote:

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@Marianne1 wrote:

I will be the odd one out on this subject:

I see this as a part of educational evolution.  

Kids learn different things in school today than they did in generations before.  

Society and the workplace require different skills.

The older generations learned things that are obsolete or done by other means by the younger.

Just as we learned different things for our generation than our elders did.  

Maybe cursive is one of those lost skills that is now more of an art, taught separately from regular school.

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So what are these different skills?  When compared to the rest of the world, we tend to do quite badly in math, language, reading, history, geography...and every other category, and that's with the most expensive education system in the world.  We spend roughly $150,000 per person or more for K-12, and yet we put men on the moon using sliderules.  

We are graduating people who can't make change, who don't know who the first president was, who the Pilgrims were, and what WW 2 was all about.  All these classes are removed or minimized, but what on earth is taking their place?  

There are companies out there that are hiring, but they also want educated people with some skills, and many can't pass a basic reading, writing or math employment test.  When my dad was a teacher, he worked directly with training people for various tech jobs, and by the time he retired, virtually every student needed a year of remedial courses before they could enter his program.  Then they'd quit because the math was ""too hard."  

Somewhere online there was a curriculum for eighth graders for the late 1920s or early 30s, and what was demanded of those kids was a level of work I don't think most grad students could successfully complete.

Sorry, but I ran into three people in one day who couldn't make change, and that's an epic failure.

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@Blahblahvampemer

 1920 and 1930 were nothing like 2016.

The history of America, the history of the world since then includes years of study. The effects of WW1, then WW2 and its effects.  

Science: the race to the moon, the technology that got us there, the historical landing. 

The advance of modern medicine: the Polio vaccine, effective treatment of tuberculosis, smallpox, etc. Heart transplants, stents, lung transplants, antibiotics.

DNA and how it has rewritten science, ancestry, and will rewrite medicine.

Cultural change, which would take too long to go over.

The new technology and so, so much more.

None of which had to be learned in detail almost a hundred years ago.

[tedEbear]

Cursive is so easy. The  reason I use this font is, it reminds me of cursive, it is gentle and I think delicate.  I cannot print neatly to save my life. If a form says PRINT, I have learned to cursively print, then use full out cursive for signature.  My handwriting is so neat and easy to read, print, not so much.  I don't have fancy writing, no curlique upper case letters.

   One year when my 6yr old opened up his birthday card,he asked  who it was from. I said US, he says   I CAN'T READ CHINESE.

I had written the exact thing I had always printed.------tedEbear

[segrl21]

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@RedConvertibleGirl wrote:

My question is, if they aren't teaching it how will people sign their names?  Legal documents need signatures.  And in some crime instances they uses hand writing analysis, so now will we have hand printing analysis?  And it has been brought up before that who will be able to read the historical documents?  I really just don't even understand the reasoning on this.  Learning it was so much fun I thought.

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They're taught in school how to "sign" or write their name in cursive but not taught any other cursive. My niece learned how to sign her name early on and it is the only cursive she has been taught. I know 30 somethings that can't write or read cursive but can sign their name. One of them is a high ranking educated miltary man.

[segrl21]

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@Blahblahvampemer wrote:

Forgot to mention an interesting WSJ article from the other day regarding typing vs. taking actual written notes in class.  Students could take more notes by typing it on their notebook/tablet, and their retention was okay right after the class, but those taking pen to paper had better retention long term.  I don't know about anyone else, but I can write a lot faster in cursive than when printing,  

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yes...this generation typing is basically faster than printing. Since they can't write in cursive they assume typing is faster.  Printing is slower than cursive and typing. Printing takes forever if you're taking notes.

....and think this is a great idea, combining generations so they can learn from each other. Those kids will remember the experience of visiting for the rest of their lives.  As a Gen X'er don't remember programs like this in my community but hear about them now often, even in small communities.  Like the willingness of the younger generation wanting to hang out with a variety of people.

[Krimpette]

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@Lila Belle wrote:

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@Krimpette wrote:

I'm a senior citizen.  Last week, at my local senior center, some of us had the opportunity to take some basic technology classes.  The instructors were from one of our local high schools.  Part of the goal was bridging the gap between the young and the old.  The classes worked out very, very well, and everyone seemed to enjoy them.

I took a class in facebook and was, as always, astounded by how much these kids know, technology-wise.  Almost intimading, at least to me!  But at the end of one of the sessions, my young instructor took my sheet with my questions that I had to be sure that she covered everything.  She looked at me and smiled and said, "Oh, I'm sorry.  I can't read cursive."

I hope TPTB have thought this through about no longer teaching cursive.  I asked what she did if she received mail that was in cursive.  She said she has her mom read it to her.  

I found it kind of sad.  I really hate to see cursive being swept aside by so many educators these days.

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Sorry. I don't believe that.

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@Lila Belle I have no reason to disbelieve her.  I'm only citing what she told me.

[Venezia]

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@Lila Belle wrote:

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@Krimpette wrote:

I'm a senior citizen.  Last week, at my local senior center, some of us had the opportunity to take some basic technology classes.  The instructors were from one of our local high schools.  Part of the goal was bridging the gap between the young and the old.  The classes worked out very, very well, and everyone seemed to enjoy them.

I took a class in facebook and was, as always, astounded by how much these kids know, technology-wise.  Almost intimading, at least to me!  But at the end of one of the sessions, my young instructor took my sheet with my questions that I had to be sure that she covered everything.  She looked at me and smiled and said, "Oh, I'm sorry.  I can't read cursive."

I hope TPTB have thought this through about no longer teaching cursive.  I asked what she did if she received mail that was in cursive.  She said she has her mom read it to her.  

I found it kind of sad.  I really hate to see cursive being swept aside by so many educators these days.

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Sorry. I don't believe that.

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@Lila Belle - And why wouldn't you believe that?  The star witness in the Trayvon Martin case was asked to read in court (on the stand, under oath) a letter she had supposedly written to Trayvon Martin's mother.  She couldn't - because she admitted she couldn't read "cursive".  So how did she write the letter?  The only thing she could read was her name, the date and "thank you" at the end.  (Answer, she didn't.)  You'll find, if you read it, she was a senior, supposedly doing well.

Here's a link and a commentary on the state of education in this area:

Couldn't read

@Krimpette - I know younger people who cannot read cursive and they also cannot make change in a store without a register that calculates it or a calculator of their own.  I'd say our educational system is in dire straits, if it can't even teach basic skills.

[Venezia]

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@Blahblahvampemer wrote:

---

@Marianne1 wrote:

I will be the odd one out on this subject:

I see this as a part of educational evolution.  

Kids learn different things in school today than they did in generations before.  

Society and the workplace require different skills.

The older generations learned things that are obsolete or done by other means by the younger.

Just as we learned different things for our generation than our elders did.  

Maybe cursive is one of those lost skills that is now more of an art, taught separately from regular school.

---

So what are these different skills?  When compared to the rest of the world, we tend to do quite badly in math, language, reading, history, geography...and every other category, and that's with the most expensive education system in the world.  We spend roughly $150,000 per person or more for K-12, and yet we put men on the moon using sliderules.  

We are graduating people who can't make change, who don't know who the first president was, who the Pilgrims were, and what WW 2 was all about.  All these classes are removed or minimized, but what on earth is taking their place?  

There are companies out there that are hiring, but they also want educated people with some skills, and many can't pass a basic reading, writing or math employment test.  When my dad was a teacher, he worked directly with training people for various tech jobs, and by the time he retired, virtually every student needed a year of remedial courses before they could enter his program.  Then they'd quit because the math was ""too hard."  

Somewhere online there was a curriculum for eighth graders for the late 1920s or early 30s, and what was demanded of those kids was a level of work I don't think most grad students could successfully complete.

Sorry, but I ran into three people in one day who couldn't make change, and that's an epic failure.

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@Blahblahvampemer - THANK YOU!  You said everything I wanted to in response to that post and I'm sure you said it better.

[alliswell]

This is sad and scary.