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 ...
Rather than focus on how the govt school system is turning out barely literate morons who are marginally functional, they choose to minimize the need to read anything but block letters. What’s next, “Oh that’s OK dear, you dont really need to understand any words with more than 6 letters. Its not your fault, you’ve been beaten down by those creepy crackas.”
Bibles were written in the language of the time which educated people could understand. Since the materials were prohibitively expensive and tomes were handwritten, it made sense to use a language common to all of Europe. Until 50 years ago, a man could not be counted truly educated unless he had some Latin. The rest of the folks were taught Bible stories via audio visual aids, preaching and stained glass and tableaux.
I was taught cursive writing. And I used to write volumes of notes and papers back in my school days. All by hand.
Thing is... I could write faster and more legibly by printing rather than cursive writing.
(I know, I didn’t practice cursive writing enough.)
Studies say that’s not really the case, people in practice on printing can go just as fast as people in practice in cursive. But even if they didn’t say that it doesn’t matter, nobody writes by hand anymore. The most I put pen to paper for anymore is shopping lists, never more than 20 items, usually abbreviated anyway. Even if cursive was twice as fast as print you’re talking about 2 seconds instead of 4. We are a typed society now, and printing looks closest to typed fonts, there’s no reason to learn anything else.
Thank goodness! A third grade teacher made my life hell by constantly ridiculing my lousy left-handed penmanship. So I returned the favor by pissing her off in every way possible. I spent half the year in detention but it was worth it. She told my mom I wouldn’t amount to anything and she died at a young age and I’m still here!
I’d hate to think the nuns wore out all those rulers on me for nothing.
I wonder how in the heck she knew the word.
Two points: 1. I think she said "curses" not "cursive" if you listen closely. (An ebonics thing, use the simple word that sounds like the word you want to use buy don't know.)
2. She was probably coached to say this by the prosecuting attorneys. I think they knew this was coming up.
I’ve actually noticed that for about 15 years now. A lot of people don’t read cursive and certainly don’t write it. Of course it could just be my handwriting.
Not trying to start a debate, but cursive isn’t worthless. It’s a faster way to write when you are doing it manually.
As in a lot of other things, the lesson isn’t the real lesson.
Learning cursive teaches discipline, neatness, etc.
We can see that lack of cursive teaching and its effects in Precious on the stand yesterday.
Cursive writing is so....
WHITE!
Look at all the early honky writings the crackers used for the Declaration of Independence and stuff...
DAHM!!!!
The bottom line is that she lied repeatedly during her deposition [which in itself was an act of prosecutorial misconduct] and then she lied repeatedly on the stand. If there isn't reasonable doubt already in this trial, our justice system is in very, VERY serious trouble.
As a homeschooler/ teacher who has thought, in the past, that cursive was irrelevant - it is funny, but her comment at Zimmerman’s trial made me think that it does seem uneducated that she cannot read cursive. I’d better rethink my position.
It used to be against the law to teach blacks how to read and write. No way inner city schools could be prosecuted for that crime.
One can only dream. All of us born before the mid 80’s will survive, except for those that have fostered the addiction in their old age.
I bet she can’t tell time on a non digital watch/clock
It wasn't for nothing; it made the nasty old man-haters feel fabulous!
Rulers? Wow. You must have gone to a sissy school. They hit us with yardsticks, unless there was something deadlier nearer at hand.
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