Some lament loss of cursive but teachers shrug

The Evansville Courier Press ^ | October 12, 2006 | Margaret Pressler

[Clintonfatigued]

The computer keyborad helped kill shorthand, and now it's threatening to kill off longhand.

When handwritten essays were intorduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2006, just 15 percent of the 1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive. The rest? They printed. Block letters.

[Tired of Taxes]

My two cents: Computer keyboard typing and cursive writing shouldn't be mutually exclusive abilities. At home, our children learn cursive writing at age 7 or 8 (which is late by some standards) and two-hand touch typing by age 10. My middle son found cursive writing easier to learn than block printing.

My mother says that, years ago, children were taught cursive writing first before block printing.

[Logophile]

An ability to write plain, block text clearly is all that's needed.

Unfortunately, most of my students cannot even manage that.

[AnAmericanMother]

"Real Writin'"!!! LOL! I thought I was the last living person who called it that.

I remember the u/c and l/c "Q" as well.

My grandmother taught me the beautiful Spencerian cursive hand, which predates Palmer and is much prettier.

The only time I use it these days is for hand-written thank you notes . . . my grandmother's ghost still makes me write those . . . but my ordinary handwriting still has little quirks and details from the "ladies' hand."

I think note-taking in college is what truly destroys handwriting. I was going for speed, speed, speed (my professors all talked way too fast), so I printed letters that printed faster, handwrote letters that wrote faster, etc. If the German word was shorter, I used it, ditto the Latin. I acquired a Greek "m" in college because it is MUCH faster to write than the cursive or print English "m". So now my handwriting is a messy gobbledegook.

[19th LA Inf]

I wish mine had been that cheap.

Well, I did say it was a long time ago, and in fact mine was even less than that. And, too, my first engineering job, on the eve of the Korean War, paid $260 a month when a lot of new grads couldn't get a job at all. (I walked 6 miles to school through the snow in Louisiana, too). LOL

[AnAmericanMother]

Don't forget uphill both ways . . .

I picked up some drafting-style printing from our architect . . . some people think I'm an engineer on account of that . . . they couldn't be more wrong, I couldn't engineer a one-car funeral.

[Red Badger]

I was raised in North Mississippi and "Real Writin'" (3rd grade?) is what you learned after "Printin'".............You should have taken notes in Hebrew. They only write the consonants and the vowels are left to the reader to mentally insert............

[shhrubbery!]

Then you don't know many public school teachers. I know many "imaginative" personalities among the their ranks.

I knew I'd get a defensive reply from a public school teacher.

But I went ahead and posted because it's the truth.

Sorry, but most public school teachers are dolts, including those in the "good" school districts. And it's getting worse all the time as each new crop of socially-indoctrinated teachers comes in.

I've known dozens and dozens of public school teachers in my lifetime --my own teachers, as well as those of my four children.

A generous estimate for the percentage of smart, imaginative public school teachers would be about 5%. Another 20% are competent, but uninspiring. The rest are worthless or worse.

[AnAmericanMother]

I never learned all my aleph-beis . . . and I don't think I could switch to right-to-left this late in life!

My husband should have learned Hebrew -- he's a hook-handed lefty and dyslexic. Plus, he looks like a Rabbi. (Not sure why - he's Irish mostly with some German and southern redneck thrown in. But every time we're at a synagogue for somebody's bar mitzvah or funeral or whatever, SOMEbody asks him "Where do you usually attend shul?")

[Red Badger]

LOL!!......well, at least they don't ask him to perform a bris!........

[meowmeow]

I actually have a doctor who has the most beautiful, perfect cursive handwriting I've ever seen. I think she is from India where the writing is kind of curly.

[wideminded]

Sometimes it's a matter of personal determination as well.

Yes, maybe one adult out of a 100,000 determines to improve their handwriting. But people usually have a more mature form of the handwriting they first learned in elementary school. I'm pretty sure that is where my father learned to form his letters, some of which were different than what later became the standard style. I will say that he always wrote in a more determined than casual way.

While going through some family items we came across a framed piece of caligraphy done by a relative from the middle 1800's. It was a tour-de-force of handwriting. Yet it must have also been a school assignment.

[moog]

I knew I'd get a defensive reply from a public school teacher. Good for you.:)

But I went ahead and posted because it's the truth. Sorry, but most public school teachers are dolts, including those in the "good" school districts. And it's getting worse all the time as each new crop of socially-indoctrinated teachers comes in.

Good imaginative reply here. :) I've known dozens and dozens of public school teachers in my lifetime --my own teachers, as well as those of my four children. A generous estimate for the percentage of smart, imaginative public school teachers would be about 5%. Another 20% are competent, but uninspiring. The rest are worthless or worse.

I've know 100's of schoolteachers over the years and am involved in the field NOW.

I guess it's the truth EVERYWHERE then(sarc). With that, I guess we'll have to believe all of the generalities ANYONE says about any group.

The ones at our school have actually gotten better over the years. And they're plenty imaginative.

It IS true, there's a lot more to deal with though, including some of those unimaginative ones you say, politics, changing demographic situations, some who encourage disrespect for teachers, and so on, and so on, and so on. Being a teacher hasn't become any easier, that's for sure.

There are "unimaginative" people among all walks of life--whether it's in a religon or in a particualr business field or so on, but there are many good, sincere people too out there. And we all have different perspectives too. With some of the attitudes I see nowadays (from all sides), it's no wonder sometimes.

[moog]

Yes, maybe one adult out of a 100,000 determines to improve their handwriting. But people usually have a more mature form of the handwriting they first learned in elementary school. I'm pretty sure that is where my father learned to form his letters, some of which were different than what later became the standard style. I will say that he always wrote in a more determined than casual way. While going through some family items we came across a framed piece of caligraphy done by a relative from the middle 1800's. It was a tour-de-force of handwriting. Yet it must have also been a school assignment.

Many of us can determine what kind of handwriting we want to have. A lot of what I see is actually not very similar to what is taught in schools for handwriting because people often develop their OWN style. Mine actually is neater than it was before, but DOES look like first grade handwriting because that is what I teach, though. :)

[shhrubbery!]

I guess it's the truth EVERYWHERE then(sarc). With that, I guess we'll have to believe all of the generalities ANYONE says about any group.

Nice leap in illogic there.

I've known teachers in supposedly good public school districts across the country --midwest, west, and northeast. (I'll give it to you, I haven't known any in the south. But I'm skeptical it's any better there.)

I stick by my numbers. Only about 5% have the slightest capacity to inspire students to learn. Maybe you and your friends are in the 5%. Don't take it personally.

[moog]

Nice leap in illogic there. I've known teachers in supposedly good public school districts across the country --midwest, west, and northeast. (I'll give it to you, I haven't known any in the south. But I'm skeptical it's any better there.) I stick by my numbers. Only about 5% have the slightest capacity to inspire students to learn. Maybe you and your friends are in the 5%. Don't take it personally.

Now take it personally? That would be unimaginative. :) True, offering glittering generalities is in the illogic, I agree. Liberals do that all the time. That's why I usually stick with my own area and own experiences. There are bad teachers out there for sure, but there are many hard-working, sincere ones who give a darn, kind of like something called parents too. It's a matter of perception, attitudes, and efforts.

[shhrubbery!]

there are many hard-working, sincere ones

Sigh. Five percent of "many" would be quite a few, wouldn't it? But it wouldn't be "most." Elementary arithmetic.

My original, on-topic comment had to do with the ugly script taught in US public schools (and about "most" public schoolteachers). If you do any research about graphology, you will find that many graphologists agree with my characterization of that "schoolteacher" script --i.e., that it is typical of unimaginative personalities.

But I understand you like to "stick with your own area." So please, do. I'm not going to get in an OT pissing contest with you.

[moog]

Sigh. Five percent of "many" would be quite a few, wouldn't it? But it wouldn't be "most." Elementary arithmetic.

LOL! My original, on-topic comment had to do with the ugly script taught in US public schools (and about "most" public schoolteachers). If you do any research about graphology, you will find that many graphologists agree with my characterization of that "schoolteacher" script --i.e., that it is typical of unimaginative personalities.

Maybe the "script" is, but I WOULD agree that we do often develope OUR own handwriting sometimes indicative of OUR own personalities. But I understand you like to "stick with your own area." So please, do. I'm not going to get in an OT pissing contest with you.

Who said we were talking about the "O--ld T--estamene?" Nah, you are right on a little bit though. I do get kind of po'd at some of the statements made when I know of me and many other schoolteachers who do work hard and try our best to make a difference in the lives of the little ones. With society focus on negativity, placing the blame, and such, it is no wonder I suppose. And again, on one other area, you are right. I DO stick to my own area because really what concerns me the most are not what those who have something against teachers say, it's those 22 little souls in the class and what their parents say that I value more. It's my privilege each year to be witness to countless little miracles that you'll never see in the papers or talked about much. I WILL say though, if you ever did make a general statement against stay-at-home moms or the Boy Scouts, I'd been on you even faster.

[newgeezer]

Another useless lesson is Roman Numerals..............

I must disagree. If I had not learned Roman numerals, I would be unable to decipher the movie release date as it goes by on the screen.

[Red Badger]

.......or tell time on some clocks?.......

[2Jedismom]

Cleared off now...bright and sunny, yet still crisp.

I hate cursive, but love this weather!