Posted on 09/19/2009 12:48:19 PM PDT by Steelfish
My printing isn’t much better.
It doesn't get quite the emphasis it did years ago, primarily because of all the technology skills we now teach,"Hoakum; by the time those kids get 'out' technlogy will have changed so radically that it would have paid off to have taught them cursive writing instead ...
I say this as one who eschewed typing class in jr. high but picked up typing in later years as a necessity and on my own, and as one who 'picked' up technology in the same vein ...(What: are they teaching Word or Excel in these so-called technolgy classes? I would have killed for MathCad or Mathamatica back in those days ...)
My cursive is OK, as is my kids’. But a couple of years of mechanical drafting in high school and a stint in architecture at college shifted me to printing (lettering or calligraphy, really). My boys are the same. There’s a certain look about a well lettered engineering drawing. Pride in workmanship, I think.
After decades in front of a keyboard, I can barely write anymore. Not remotely legibly anyway.
I think it’s happening to us all.
When was the last time you wrote a letter?
This is a “hot button” with me. It’s not just cursive handwriting, though. It’s any kind of handwriting. I teach 7th and 8th graders, and am more distressed each year. They come to me forming their letters in the oddest directions, some not able to make their “best” even semi-legible.
When I put them on the keyboards, they hunt and peck and use their thumbs.
Now that I have the most wonderful interactive Smart Board, I just discovered I can put up a background looking like lined paper. Ha.
Friday, as they were brainstorming ideas, I first gave them a shortened fast lesson on starting cursive writing. I made them practice on their own paper for about one minute, then we went on with our lesson. As they wrote on the SB, they all tried handwriting.
It was a riot. Will I be able to continue it? Is it worth it?
Think of how handicapped these kids will be if they can’t type well or write legibly. All life can’t be “u r kwl.”
What I really need, though, is research based evidence that doing cursive handwriting actually builds brain skills. I’m convinced in my own mind that part of the increase in learning disabilities is tied to the lack of the movement kids used to get every day in using lots of cursive handwriting. If anyone knows of any studies about this, please tell me.
Yes, I started teaching in 1971—long before these students were born. We didn’t even have calculators or Xerox machines then!
There are few things I enjoy more than receiving a handwritten letter, especially if it’s apparent the sender cared about their penmanship. I enjoy sending them as well. It seems to be a lost art, and it’s a shame. In fact, I think that women who send handwritten notes and cards are sexy as all hell! (Then again, I think chicks that wear glasses are sexy, too! Maybe that’s why I have this Sarah Palin thing!)
In my elementary school days, it was taught as not only a means of communication, but also as an art form — a form of expression. I believe that a person’s handwriting reveals a lot about their personality. I don’t know about anybody else, but I think personal correspondence (especially things like love letters) should be handwritten. It says more about you and your message than a word-processed document. Just my opinion — I’m a bit old-fashioned about these things.
What’s wrong with having both skills — penmanship and computer aided writing? I think there’s room in the world for both.
I home school and my son can’t write a lick in cursive he can however type 60 wpm which would you prefer?
My hand cramped like you would not believe! Oh, the agony! I am a bit ambidextrous, and I used my opposite hand to write and rest my good hand. I could not wait or take it more slowly as I had already lost about half of my test time to the stupid computer.
I passed...
Typing without question. I am glad I took typewrting in my senior year in high school for an elective. I had a great teacher. Most days 50ish words per minute, mostly error free.
Is “mostly error free” like “a little bit pregnant”?
Great!!!
Most people’s “penmanship” is poor at best and is more often totally unreadable.
Hand-writing is a dying skill... unless TSHTF.
Handwriting looks much better using fountain pens. Ball points just aren’t able to produce it.
Me, too. Even my printing sucks. I had a boss call it "hieroglyphics"
Most people don’t do cursive well.
Print is used in most business and industrial applications because it’s easier to read and not as many ‘nuances’ or ‘personal flair.’
Print works better, it’s more efficient, Computers multiply this efficiency.
“I home school and my son can’t write a lick in cursive he can however type 60 wpm which would you prefer?”
The former, thank you. Can he create and compose on the fly at 60 WPM? Can he take notes at that rate and internalize what he’s transcribed, so that he doesn’t have to refer the to the notes? I.E. learn by doing?
I have a ledger from my Great Grandfather’s Hay & Grain Business from 1895. Every entry in beautiful, pen & ink script. Some pages contain a polite dunning note for payment that he inserted, probably when payment was made. Also in neat, flowing pen & ink. A bag of oats (50 lbs) was $1.50. Daily receipts totalled $10 to $30 dollars which was a tidy sum back then. Might still be close to that today had we not fallen for the banking cartel’s Federal Reserve System.
Personally, I think children start school at a far too early age. For instance, Finnish children don't start school until they are seven years old and are among the highest scoring students in the world. Reading ( and also handwriting) disabilities are, in my opinion, almost entirely due to demanding more of children than they are neurologically capable.
It would be an interesting experiment. Would reading disabilities decrease (and, incidentally handwriting improve) if children didn't start learning to read ( or use cursive) until they were 7, 8, 9, or even 10?
This is ridiculous..children are not going to have access to a computer 24/7, you dont’ take notes in class on a computer, you don’t do your in class work on a computer.. this is a deliberate attempt to make Americans useless by the time they are adults.. so what if you can tap on a keyboard... can you cook, clean, sew, write legibly, know how to balance a checkbook without a calculator? There is no more self reliance taught...computers are a fine tool, but they are a tool, like any other.. and when you don’t have them around you must learn to use other methods... The way this country is going down a hellhole is disgusting.. more technology does not a smarter society make, it just makes us weak and reliant on unreliable things.
100% agreement here.
I would be happy if the kids get out of school with the ability to read, write a coherent paper or email and do mathematics to solve everyday needs. The biggest college courses today are bonehead English followed by basic mathematics.
I’m not expecting too much, but my expectations are not being met.
If they teach them history, they will only lie to them.
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