Posted on 06/17/2012 5:25:54 AM PDT by SMGFan
The bulletin board at the front of Melissa Balzano’s classroom in West Orange is decorated with hand-written lists her students wrote in September, expressing their "Hopes and Dreams for Third Grade." For at least half the children in Balzano’s class at Mount Pleasant Elementary School, learning cursive topped the list. "It’s fancy writing," said Naomi Toms, 9. Cursive was once a mainstay of elementary schools, where children practiced the "tripod" pencil grip and the looping strokes of the letters. But these days little classroom time is spent teaching cursive writing, crowded out of the curriculum by the demands of an increasingly complex world.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
OMG! LOL! Hey I say don’t teach them cursive, it will give us ‘old folks’ our own code that will be just as confusing to youths as texting is to us! ;-)
In this day and age typing is a more important skill.
The end of cursive is one of the signs of the end of culture.
More important for future employment. Not more important for properly educating children. Kids can learn keyboarding at home. They will not learn cursive at home most likely.
Without cursive would you be able to make your signature?
I have three Gen Ys in my office, not one of them can sign a legible signature. Heck, they can't even print legibly.
I like the idea of cursive being a secret code for us "old folks". :-)
Marshall McLuhan has been heard laughing uproariously.
Don’t get so nostalgic about cursive. My mother’s cursive writing was so undifferentiated — just a sequence of bumps — that it could not be read, just decoded. Oldest child (me) was the only one who could read it. She has abandoned it and only prints now.
Cursive has joined many other practical arts (sewing, knitting, woodwork) which grandparents will have to teach the next generation.
They aren’t necessarily learning keyboarding at home. And, in this day of computers, everything on systems, it drives me nuts to see someone hunt and peck all day long.
I see so many signatures which are nearly scribbles. You Can not make out actual letters. :)
We were taught to write cursive in Catholic school by the time we were in the Second grade. In some schools, cursive was so beautifully stylized, that one could determine the school you attended and the order of nuns who taught you by examining the style of your handwriting. Alas, with the advent of the digital age, I find that I have rarely hand written anything for many years. As a result, I can now barely write my own signature.
TRUE STORY: I’m a retired teacher who now supplements my income as a Substitute Teacher. I had a class of H.S. Juniors recently. I noticed that, now days, all kids print; no cursive. Long story short: Only 2 students in a class of 20 could come to the board and write their name in cursive. THEY DO NOT TEACH CURSIVE IN SCHOOLS ANYMORE.
Many kids in America have computers at home these days - that’s been true for a decade already.
It doesn’t matter if it bothers you that some hunt and peck all day long.
Same here and I remember having a grade on my report card for ‘penmanship’.
That said, keyboarding should be taught in the early grades. Too many kids don't know the keyboard because they haven't been taught it. If they're going to replace cursive with computers, they'd better be proficient at keyboarding.
Perhaps this is tinfoil hat stuff, but I feel that, by eliminating cursive, the “Powers That Be” are eliminating a major form of expressing freedom of thought, thus creating an entire generation of drones who are incapable of rebellion.
Just sayin’.
Cursive is the same way, but printing is different, and learning to read cursive is also different.
My kids today type 100 to 150 wpm all the time ~ any keyboard ~ any system. We used Mavis Beacon, a couple of other packages that teach you to track and type random numbers and letters, and my own system.
I made it to 238 WPM in high school which qualified me for international speed typing competition ~ but I graduated that year and went to work in an auto factory to earn money for college.
I never made better than a D or -+ in cursive in my entire school career. Just wasn't my thing ~ total waste of time for me AND they never taught me how to read other people's handwriting. That came years later reviewing cases in dispute in Postal Headquarters.
So, my thoughts on cursive ~ quit teaching it but teach the kids how to read it. Also, teach printing by hand ~with a leroy set. Teach typing starting in maybe 5th grade. Any earlier typing should be the prerogative of the parents ~ it's their kid ~ they got the time to waste. 5th grade is an island of stability of the ever growing bones, sinews and muscles of the chillun' so that's a good time to pin down the basics of keyboard hygiene ~ fingers on the key ~ something under the bottom ~ type like the wind.
Cut out the posture thing ~ that's all wrong. You cannot type fast if you are sitting up.
I learned to touch-type in 1961’ in high school - two full years of taking typing (with covered keys) and It has proven to be an invaluable skill over the decades, and I still type over 50 WPM. However, I would not trade my ability to write cursive for all of the keyboards in the world. I’ve seen many of today’s youngsters type-including my own grandchildren - and they are “hunt & peckers”.
I like to think that children are not too different now than they were back then, and posses the basic intelligence to do BOTH. At least I know I can commubicate in a power outage or other emergency.
Once we become totally dependent on the keyboard, those who control technology have us in a precarious position...pull the plug and we’re stymied for communication.
The demise of cursive illustrates the depth to which our culture has shrunk to accommodate those who would rather party than put forth an ounce of effort.
why teach anything anymore?
All you have to do is teach a child how to operate a calculator and a keyboard, show him how to use google and he can get all the info he needs
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