Posted on 07/07/2011 7:52:05 AM PDT by newzjunkey
...[Indiana] State officials sent school leaders a memo April 25 telling them that instead of cursive writing, students will be expected to become proficient in keyboard use.
The Times of Munster reports the memo says schools may continue to teach cursive as a local standard, or they may decide to stop teaching cursive altogether...
...'The skill of handwriting is a dying art,' [East Allen County Schools Superintendent Karyle Green] said. 'Everything isn’t handwritten anymore.'...
Winning: The key board wins as students will no longer be assessed on the handwriting style in third and fourth grade
From now on, second-graders will be taught cursive. But students will no longer be assessed on the handwriting style in third and fourth grade.
'We think it’s still important for kids to be able to read cursive,' Hissong said.
'But after that, it begins to become obsolete.'
Andree Anderson of the Indiana University Northwest Urban Teacher Education Program says teachers haven't had the time to teach cursive writing for some time because it's not a top priority...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I learned how to type in the 60s with a record and workbook that came with my dad’s portable typewriter. It was fun. I had no idea how many man years I was to end up spending on a keyboard.
I have been able to touch type numbers though. I have to stop and look if I type a number.
” the quality of your signature means almost nothing anyway. Its the person, not his/her signature that counts “
There are a couple of situations where I have to place my ‘signature’ on a screen with a stylus - it looks nothing like my ‘pen&paper” signature, but is still, somehow, valid....
This is so totally wrong! How will they ever sign their welfare checks? Oh, wait - direct deposit. Never mind.
MY Grandfather was illiterate. He could neither read nor write. He was a cotton/ corn /sharecropper farmer in the early 20th century.
All he could do was make an ‘X’ by his name to sign checks and documents. Do you want to go back to those days?...................
My handwriting was always terrible. It’s one of the reasons I was an early adopter of PCs. Thank goodness for that semester of typing in high school.
Why can’t we teach kids how to do both? Sounds like a liberal teacher’s union decision.
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It’s 2011, Kirkwood. When in the real world will they use cursive?
That’s what printing is for. Cursive is mostly useless and slow.
Psst- signet rings.
I remember all those hours spent learning to write in cursive back in the 2nd and 3rd grades - now my signature is an illegible scrawl worthy of a doctor’s prescription form. I can’t remember the last time I needed to write anything in cursive. I think as long as people are able to print by hand well enough to, say, fill in bank deposit slips and are also proficient at typing on a keyboard or a smartphone, they’re fine.
Handwriting can contribute to fine motor skill development, which is important for kids as they grow. This article also suggests that the brain is boosted by learning the skill:
Look on the bright side. Someday notes written in cursive can be used as coded messages in the next revolution.
The best part is......people can read what I write.
Thankfully, my own kids have already learned to write in cursive, and although the oldest’s handwriting would have sent the teachers I had in school into an insane asylum, the youngest’s is just fine.
However, given this current trend, it does look as though I’ll have to teach my grandchildren how to write properly myself — in the Palmer method.
I know that many here on FR applaud this move by the schools, but I have to say...I’ve watched my above-mentioned highschooler attempt to study using the notes he’s taken in class. His handwriting is so poor that I’ve had to force him to re-write entire chapters so that it is legible (to him AND to me). IMO, you can’t study properly when your notes are chaotic. It’s a shame that the kids’ teachers didn’t come down harder on poor handwriting when they were younger. After all, they aren’t taking class notes with a keyboard...
Regards,
PS: I can rest assured that my little guy will continue to have excellent handwriting, as he is now homeschooled.
PPS: BTW, I agree that typing should also be taught in school. I don’t understand why they can’t do both.
I learned in 2nd grade. It didn't take long at all. What's crowded it out? From test scores, it certainly doesn't appear to be reading, English language skill, math or other fundamentals.
I've been touch-typing for decades. I rarely write longhand now but still practice penmanship to keep the skill.
Good for you. However, I have tried to read some of the prose created on keyboards and still cannot for the life of me decipher any meaning from the words written. If all the efforts of teaching cursive were shifted toward spelling, grammar, usage and sentence construction it would be a net plus for humanity. But from what I observe of writing skills coming from public school graduates that does not appear to be the case.
I know, and use, Morse Code, too. Sign me up for the Counter-revolution. :)
I recall cursive, or “real writing”, being a subject taught for an hour or less for part of only one year. I think it was third grade. All this year-after-year teaching of cursive sounds more like penmanship, or some effort to turn all kids into stylish scribblers.
Teach it for a few months and be done with it. It’ll still prove more useful than much of the PC drivel being injected into too many school curricula.
Which brings up the question: will the printing form of handwriting still be taught, which always preceded cursive instruction? Should kids be taught to write by hand in any form?
In Russia children are taught cursive first. My Ukrainian wife thinks it is wrong for us to have children printing block letters in the early grades rather than really writing.
Thanks for that link. Fine motor skill is one reason I continue to practice handwriting.
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