Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Is this the end of handwriting? Indiana schools to teach keyboard skills instead
The Daily Mail UK ^ | Last updated at 6:40 AM on 7th July 2011 | By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

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 ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Indiana
KEYWORDS: cursive; daniels; education; handwriting
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140141-160161-180181-199 next last
To: Sonny M
I always thought Esperanto was more of a sci-fi type thing.

Oddly enough, there are actually people who learn Esperanto, and congregate with each other, and speak it amongst themselvs, and think themselves therefore something special. My grad-school thermodynamics professor was one such. He also bought a Volkswagen "Quantum" (car) simply because of the name.

Of course, there are also folks who learn Klingon, and ...

141 posted on 07/07/2011 12:21:42 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 140 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

Well...I DID learn shorthand...but didn’t use it, so lost it....I write VERY fast in cursive and it’s readable ....and, I think typing is useful too....whatever works for each person. I just don’t remember what I type as well as what I write...


142 posted on 07/07/2011 12:29:37 PM PDT by goodnesswins (...both islam and the democrat plantation thrive on poverty)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah

Bet you don’t remember a word of what you typed, though, do you?


143 posted on 07/07/2011 12:37:25 PM PDT by goodnesswins (...both islam and the democrat plantation thrive on poverty)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 132 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah

Remember it? Of course. Writing/typing is much slower than reading.


144 posted on 07/07/2011 12:40:58 PM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 132 | View Replies]

To: Bigg Red

Since I am a retired secondary math teacher, I agree. It is really sad when they do not have the reasoning ability to tell if the answer they got on the calculator is not a good one.


145 posted on 07/07/2011 1:14:12 PM PDT by mathluv ( Conservative first and foremost, republican second - GO SARAHCUDA!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

OK, I’ll admit, I also hate the thought of something that I did so much of earlier in life disappearing or becoming rare, like vinyl records.


146 posted on 07/07/2011 1:23:26 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (July 23, 2017 - This is Ellis Wyatt. I am on strike.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 91 | View Replies]

To: BenKenobi

Would probably quarrel with you on that one. In an increasingly wired world, not sure how you get away from keyboards.


147 posted on 07/07/2011 1:31:33 PM PDT by dmz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 136 | View Replies]

To: Sonny M

But if you teach the kids DVORAK in the school they won’t have DVORAK keyboards to use away from school, so they’ll learn QWERTY out there, or annoy their parent by figuring out how to reconfigure the family computer to DVORAK. And the big punchline is there really doesn’t seem to be that much gain. I was poking around the google on this and the general consensus seems to be that taking a refresher typing course will increase somebody’s typing speed by about the same as them learning DVORAK and takes less time. It seems that DVORAK is one of those theoretical improvements with little actual improvement. Probably because once people get used to the layout they just go, the more you type the faster you’ll be even if the layout is a little less than perfectly efficient, muscle memory and dexterity seem to have a bigger effect than keyboard efficiency.


148 posted on 07/07/2011 1:35:07 PM PDT by discostu (Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 139 | View Replies]

To: newzjunkey
Honestly, it takes very little time to teach a child to write in cursive. I know. I homeschooled three children, and all, as adults, have very neat, pleasant, and easily read handwriting.

My oldest who will finish his masters in accounting in December, **thanked** me for taking the time to teach cursive. He feels that his professors appreciated getting exams that were more easily graded. It also helped **him** see things more clearly and made achieving accuracy more predicable.

I once had an office assistant, in the days before computers, who wrote an excuse note for a patient that had visited the office. The owner of the patient’s business called the office because my assistant's handwriting was so poor she did not believe that it had come from an educated person in a medical clinic. The patient’s boss thought he had written it himself. After that I would always have a potential employee writing something in cursive. Poor handwriting was a reason for me not to hire them.

Finally....There are times when handwriting is needed. Having legible handwriting is appreciated by those who must read it. It is an indication of refinement and education.

149 posted on 07/07/2011 1:46:21 PM PDT by wintertime
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah

Please read my post #149.

I would certainly support teaching good typing habits as early as possible in the elementary grades. Inefficient typing habits are hard to unlearn, and with the social networking we have today, even children in kindergarten are using keyboards. They might as well get off to good start in using that keyboard.

Handwriting can be taught as part of spelling, so there doesn’t need to be any wasted school time in learning this skill. The muscular action of writing out a word in correct cursive is very helpful in memorizing how to spell it.

And...While legible cursive is far less essential today, it is a nice skill to have. It is an indication of education and refinement.


150 posted on 07/07/2011 1:56:04 PM PDT by wintertime
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: catfish1957

What is “teh”?


151 posted on 07/07/2011 1:57:24 PM PDT by wintertime
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: catfish1957

Your predecessors lamented the loss of ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ as well as ‘thy’ in general communication as well. :P

‘Teh’ is a common typo. I won’t bother trying to defend ‘b4’ because that annoys me as well.


152 posted on 07/07/2011 2:04:30 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: wintertime

A common typo for ‘the’ - among other usages.


153 posted on 07/07/2011 2:05:12 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 151 | View Replies]

To: wintertime

Focal hand dystonia is a very real condition in about 5% of the population. Cursive is a theory with them.


154 posted on 07/07/2011 2:38:14 PM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 149 | View Replies]

To: discostu
Most of my ancestors couldn’t install an operating system, I can.

Let's see, I bet you can fix a wagon wheel, shoe a horse, mill grain, build a home, build a cistern, an outhouse, and push a plow until your hands are blistered. Yeah you are a hell of guy. /s

155 posted on 07/07/2011 2:38:31 PM PDT by catfish1957 (Hey algore...You'll have to pry the steering wheel of my 317 HP V8 truck from my cold dead hands)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 115 | View Replies]

To: catfish1957

Way to complete and deliberately miss the point. Let’s look at some of those sentences you deliberately skipped:
Evaporating skills are not society getting dumb, they’re society moving on. There’s other skills we’ve had to learn in the new modern world.

So of course I don’t have those skills you listed entirely to be argumentative, because our society has moved on. But I have other skills, like installing an OS and then using it, because those are the skills needed in a modern society. Every time somebody lists skills off that we no longer have they carefully ignore the fact that we don’t need them anymore either. Necessary skills don’t fade from the societal set, the skills that fade are the useless ones. Like cursive.


156 posted on 07/07/2011 2:49:15 PM PDT by discostu (Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 155 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah
Focal hand dystonia is a very real condition..
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I certainly believe that is possible. It would be like any other motor skill such as not being able to dance, for instance.

157 posted on 07/07/2011 4:26:20 PM PDT by wintertime
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 154 | View Replies]

To: wintertime
Or, not having any legs! Did you notice it's associated with several other well known phenomenon.
158 posted on 07/07/2011 4:43:31 PM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 157 | View Replies]

To: discostu
Cursive was useful within a certain cost-benefit situation. Today it costs more to develop than it returns ~ and, it may interfere with time needed to develop a great deal of skill with keyboards and control units.

We know that eventually someone will work out a "remote" that allows us to think to control and we'll dispense with keyboards and control units.

I would imagine such a device will allow us to write in whatever cursive we need. I will use German script of the early 1800s ~ even people of that time were unable to read it well.

159 posted on 07/07/2011 4:49:33 PM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 156 | View Replies]

To: discostu
Those who do have trouble with their own legible handwriting were taught to **print** before learning cursive. Unfortunately, the strokes they were taught to use for printing are **opposite** in many letters than those used in cursive. This is the fault of the teaching method and completely **AVOIDABLE**. Children from the very first day in school should be taught to use the exact **same** strokes ( in the same direction) in printing that they will use later in cursive. The transition to cursive is then seamlessly EASY!!!

Cursive handwriting is a simple skill that is quickly learned by children. If coupled with another school activity it doesn't need to take time from other subjects. My homeschoolers learned cursive and they were learning to read and they used it when practicing the spelling words. Writing words out manually helps in memorization.

I simply don't see this as an “either learn this skill but not that” type of situation.

Finally....When I ask people who are dead set against teaching cursive to children, I find that they never fully mastered the skill. It was a source of frustration for them in school because they were IMPROPERLY taught the wrong strokes in printing and they very understandably had a very hard time reversing the direction of the strokes in cursive.

Given the extremely **minimal** amount of time it takes to teach children cursive ( if done properly when children are first learning to print), it is worth the **minor** amount of effort. It is nice skill, and many see it as a sign of refinement and education. Now how could that hurt on the job or anywhere else in life?

By the way....Knowing a little bit of calligraphy is sometimes useful as well!

160 posted on 07/07/2011 5:15:41 PM PDT by wintertime
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 156 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140141-160161-180181-199 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson