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 isnt 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 its 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've been pushing on Fairfax County VA schools for years and years to at least give equal weight to keyboarding.
It is WRONG for a second grader to get a "-" for cursive when he can already TYPE 72 WPM.
This step forward should soon sweep the nation.
My twins’ 3rd grade teacher (about 15 years ago) said she didn’t have time to teach her students cursive. I was shocked! They basically taught themselves.
Been print'n ever since.
Why can’t we teach kids how to do both? Sounds like a liberal teacher’s union decision.
I cringe at my son’s terrible handwriting, but....its just a reflex. Other than your signature, cursive means little anymore. Being able to type quickly & accurately is a much more useful skill.
Last week, the judge in the Casey Anthony trial asked the young man who had caused a disturbance in the courtroom with his middle finger stunt if he could ‘read and write’.
If all we teach is ‘keyboarding’, then his answer would have been ‘no’.................
Then what happens when the North Koreans attack us with their super-mega EMP bomb...manual typewriters? What are these people thinking!
I have 5 grandchildren. The girls are more likely to use cursive.
LOL. It will be in the chip in your arm.
Other than when a signature is required, I never write longhand. A skill going the way of the buggy whip.
It turns out that one of the best classes I ever took in high school was typing. Of course a buddy of mine and I took the class because that’s where all the girls were. It payed off in the long run because I am fairly good on the keyboard.
As I grew up, I entered the electronics industry as a draftsman, then got into design. We printed everything and I continue to print everything today. I guess the main thing is “Can you communicate effectively?” Things are going to evolve, with us or without us.
Writing means little anymore..............now you know why..............
I put up with cursive writing in Elementary and middle school.(At that level everything was required to be in cursive) I pitty my poor teachers trying to decipher my hen scratch.
After I hit high school, and realized the teachers did not care, I went back to printing and never looked back.
Same with me. I 'print' faster than I can write....................
I think it is a myth that peoples’ cursive was better “in the olden days”. Whenever I see a letter from, say 50-200 years ago I can’t make heads nor tails of it. I don’t see how anyone can. Maybe they should teach cursive READING.
I take every computer class I can, but my non-existent keyboard skills really hold me back. The other mostly much younger folk in these classes tend to type very fast. I do wonder if we are gonna regret if we lose the whole culture of handwriting.
I understand what you’re trying to say, but disagree. If you have no honor or morals, the quality of your signature means almost nothing anyway. Its the person, not his/her signature that counts.
Probably not by much. Signatures are going electronic now.
Failing that, spending an entire semester on cursive is useless. Nobody writes an entire paper in longhand cursive any more.
Teaching enough cursive to make a signature takes all of two weeks. Be done with it, move on to an actual usable and marketable skill.
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