Community Chat

[sunshine45]

@software

my kids still take notes by hand, but they print their notes.

if they do use a tablet or laptop they are not generally switching over to facebook......facebook is not that popular anymore for the younger set......and if they were in grade school that would not be allowed anyways.

[Carmie]

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@CelticCrafter wrote:

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@debic wrote:

I’ve never understood how lefthanders have made a chore out of writing. Who the heck taught them to wrap their wrists around the paper? I’m pretty sure I’d dislocate my wrist trying to write like that.  I don’t turn the paper either. I write just like right hander, no back slants and fairly nice writing. 

On the other hand my husband has always printed all capital letters no less. 

The thing I had trouble with was my kid was not required to spell anything as long as the content was there. We went the rounds, I even went to the school and was shot down.  He told me I was right when he hit middle school and they expected him to be able to spell. 

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@debic - I think a lot of left handed kids were afraid to turn the paper once it was put down on the desk, especially if it were a nun that put the paper down.  I personally didn't care if I suffered her wrath, I turned the page so I didn't have to curl my wrist in to some unnatural position to be able to write.

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I come from a family of lefties, though I myself am right handed.  My mother was forced to use her right hand to write  when she went to school, even though she is left handed.

Her father went to the school and spoke to the teacher.  He advised her that God made her left handed and the teacher should leave God's work alone. After that she wasn't bothered anymore.  My mother was born in 1918 so lefties have had problems for a long, long time.

I went to Catholic school in the 60's and had nuns.  We had a few lefties in the class.  They were instructed to turn their papers to the right and right handlers turned their papers to the left.  No lefties in school with me twisted their wrists like I see many left handlers do.  How crazy.

My youngest son and oldest granddaughter are lefties and never had any problems in school with writing.

[blackhole99]

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@songbird wrote:

I can't write in cursive.  One reason is that I am left handed.  It was difficult for me to master it.  Being left handed affected the slant, etc. It ended up not being legible.  Almost immediately I switched to print.  It takes a bit longer.  But at least it was legible.  And that is the whole point in communicating on paper. My husband on the other hand always writes in cursive.  You should see our joint names written out by us.  His big beautiful cursive and  my little neat print. 

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Too bad for you, my cousin and my friend are left handed and they have the most beautiful penmanship in cursive, printing too. My son who is 34 did learn cursive writing in grade school, but was not good at it, his writing looked like chicken scratch. He's a techy type guy and his cursive signature reflects that. I think it's a plus to be able to read and write cursive, but only because it is becoming extinct.

[ScrapHappy]

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@kittyloo wrote:

so my step-daughter was over last weekend.  both her and her brother are very intelligent.  ages 15 and almost 18.  so when she mentioned that neither one of them can write cursive, and older brother can't read it at all, i was floored.  I mean really floored. what????  I realize that it;s mostly not taught in schools anymore, but i had a really hard time wrapping my head around this.  Is this unnecessary anymore? you don't have to sign your name? print it, or make a X? is this really the norm?  Granted they go to a very  "liberal,school" in a college town. (not sure if this makes a difference or not) maybe i'm just out of touch. not sure. they have 3 bathrooms, if that tell's you anything.   just minor venting. 

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Five years ago my daughter was in 2nd grade, in a private school in California.  Cursive was a requirement.  In 3rd & 4th grade (while still in private school), all papers had to be written in cursive.  I will give me kid kuddos because her handwriting was/is beautiful (much better than mine ever was).  Fast forward to 5th grade in a public school in another state (it is a high performing school district), no cursive is taught or used.  I don't know the usefulness of it these days, but I'm glad my daughter learned it.

[GingerPeach]

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@sidsmom wrote:

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@GingerPeach wrote:

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@sidsmom wrote:

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@GingerPeach wrote:

How interesting that so many seem to bring up the fact that it is OK because it doesn't "bother" them and that it's OK because it's a "sign of the times."

How is forgetting a useful skill good?

Too many forget the very important connection between hand and memory.  Memory doesn't connect nearly as well with tapping on key pads as it does with writing in cursive. 

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Ok. Let’s discuss.

How is cursive a useful skill?

Is there proof that non-cursive people have less memory?

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Not the point at all.

It has been shown that taking notes by writing in your own hand increases retention more than by taking notes by typing into an electronic device.

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I’ve seen articles referencing handwritten for retention BUT.....

this was many years ago when electronic devices were not available.

I would love to see studies/research comparing handwritten vs electronic 

for memory retention TODAY....broken down to gender & age range.

I would bet the generation of teens/20’s would should retention

is via electronic device since that’s all they know.  Does that mean

they have less memory than older adults? 

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It seems that two different meanings for memory are being offered in your posts.  

And your indication that these studies are only from before electronic devices were in use is incorrect.  Feel free to do your own research.

[bathina]

Cursive has gone the way of Latin. There's no use for it in the modern world. Everything is done electronically, even things that used to require a "wet" signature can now be signed electronically. Someone upthread mentioned that we may need archeologists to decipher cursive if no one uses it anymore. I think that is probably what will happen. If I look back at writings 500 years ago, I can barely understand what is written, the spelling is different and the formation of the letters are different also. Everything changes. 500 years from now, what we have now will seem quaint.

[patbz]

When I first moved to AZ twelve years ago I hired two 12 year old twins to feed my dogs if I was gone overnite.  I wrote instructions in cursive and was chagrined to find they couldn't read cursive.  After this board discussion, I googled to see if my young grandsons would learn cursive and how to read analog time.  They live in CA and fortunately will still learn these things.

[sidsmom]

@bathina

Latin....good example!

Another example I’ve been thinking about is,

Slide Rule.

My Dad, growing up in the 20-30’s, always used a slide rule

to calculate stuff. An abacus would be the same for different 

parts of the world. Two calculating tools which are unheard of,

at this time but Dad would dogcuss us kids when we wouldn’t 

learn how to use a slide rule. 🙃

Also another skill which is not actively taught in our schools is,

the Metric System.

We’re the only developed country in the world not using metric.

The same mindset for not needing cursive for the far future

is along the same mindset of not understand the Metric System

in the US today. It’s a skill many people will have in the future,

but not needed.

[cherry]

Latin is still used. It is the language of the Catholic Church. Because it is a dead language, the meanings of the words are not subject to change

I think it is also used in Scientific names of species, and flowers ,and things like that

I believe it is also used in medicine, and perhaps ,also in law

[LTT1]

@Ms tyrion2

And there’s the “rub”

(back on my soapbox —-see previous post)

parents have decided (apparently) to hand their children over to the school/teacher leaving them to teach their children things that one would think parents would not want to leave to the “system.”

thereby abdicating their parental duties.