Posted on 06/28/2013 1:29:33 PM PDT by TigerClaws
A single sentence, uttered in the trial of George Zimmerman for the shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin, has catapulted an issue into the national spotlight.
When asked if she could read a letter in court, witness Rachel Jeantel, her head bowed, murmured with embarrassment, "I don't read cursive," according to court testimony.
Is it any surprise that cursive -- the looped, curvaceous style of handwriting that's been a mainstay of education for generations -- is all but dead? [15 Weird Things We Do Everyday, and Why]
"Cursive should be allowed to die. In fact, it's already dying, despite having been taught for decades," Morgan Polikoff, assistant professor of education at the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education, told The New York Times.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
They are paying the price of thinking before one writes, to save the effort of having to erase, strike out what onr wrote, or throw the paper away and begin again. Leads to vlarity of purpose --
No, cursive lives, the dumbos who haven’t learned it are actually dead. They just do not know it ....yet!
Haha; perfect.
For example, I get my hair cut at the PX. There are signs there with a happy Soldier with a fresh haircut. The ad on the sign says: Low Prices.... Everyday!
At no point during the design, printing, production, and distribution of that sign, which appears in countless Army barbershops, did anybody catch that mistake.
What are electrolytes? Do you even know?
They’re... what they use to make Brawndo!
Yeah, but why do they use them to make Brawndo!?!
I agree with you and don’t want to do such things.
Because Brawndo's got electrolytes.
It's got what plants crave.
They are what plants crave.
Wait until - God forbid - the aftermath of an EMP attack. Cursive will be mighty handy to know then, by cracky.
Handwriting matters — but does cursive matter? The fastest, clearest handwriters join only some letters: making the easiest joins, skipping others, using print-like forms of letters whose cursive and printed forms disagree. (Sources below.)
Reading cursive matters, but even children can be taught to read writing that they are not taught to produce. Reading cursive can be taught in just 30 to 60 minutes — even to five- or six-year-olds, once they read ordinary print. Why not teach children to read cursive, along with teaching other vital skills, including a handwriting style typical of effective handwriters?
Adults increasingly abandon cursive. In 2012, handwriting teachers were surveyed at a conference hosted by Zaner-Bloser, a publisher of cursive textbooks. Only 37 percent wrote in cursive; another 8 percent printed. The majority, 55 percent, wrote a hybrid: some elements resembling print-writing, others resembling cursive. When most handwriting teachers shun cursive, why mandate it?
Cursive’s cheerleaders sometimes allege that cursive makes you smarter, makes you graceful, or confers other blessings no more prevalent among cursive users than elsewhere. Some claim research support, citing studies that consistently prove to have been misquoted or otherwise misrepresented by the claimant.
What about signatures? In state and federal law, cursive signatures have no special legal validity over any other kind. (Hard to believe? Ask any attorney!)
All writing, not just cursive, is individual — just as all writing involves fine motor skills. That is why, six months into the school year, any first-grade teacher can immediately identify (from print-writing on unsigned work) which student produced it.
Mandating cursive to preserve handwriting resembles mandating stovepipe hats and crinolines to preserve the art of tailoring.
SOURCES:
Handwriting research on speed and legibility:
/1/ Steve Graham, Virginia Berninger, and Naomi Weintraub. “The Relation between Handwriting Style and Speed and Legibility.” JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, Vol. 91, No. 5 (May - June, 1998), pp. 290-296: on-line at http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/27542168.pdf
/2/ Steve Graham, Virginia Berninger, Naomi Weintraub, and William Schafer. “Development of Handwriting Speed and Legibility in Grades 1-9.”
JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, Vol. 92, No. 1 (September - October, 1998), pp. 42-52: on-line at http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/27542188.pdf
Zaner-Bloser handwriting survey: Results on-line at http://www.hw21summit.com/media/zb/hw21/files/H2937N_post_event_stats.pdf
Kate Gladstone
http://www.HandwritingThatWorks.com
“Come on in. Painless is waitin’”
Remember the early 1980s when calligraphy was in vogue?
I went to college in the early 1970s, and as an Art Historian, was required to take upper credits in one of the arts. Most took painting, some sculpture or design; I chose calligraphy.
“everyday” not “every day” (”every” modifies “day”)
“take a peak” instead of “take a peek” (seriously, I saw this in today’s SF Chronicle)
“head over heals” instead of “head over heels” (heel, that back part of your foot)
“secure the boarder” instead of “secure the border”
I could go on and on.
Makes me grit my teeth.
Also, “could care less” (as seen in the post you are responding to), which makes no logical sense, instead of “couldn’t care less”.
I mean, if you have to think and talk in cliches, learn to spell them correctly! Sheesh!
I’m surprised I didn’t go home from school with bruised hands for all the wooden ruler smacks across the back of the hand for writing left handed. But that’s another topic.
I don’t get it, or I don’t understand what this cursed “cursive” means. Does this whole kerfuffle mean that children nowadays are taught only to type on keyboards, or else, only to write in block, uppercase letters when using pens and pencils? ‘splain, Lucy!
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