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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
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To: Red Badger
We printed everything and I continue to print everything today.

PLEASE don't tell me you use a ruler to see that your printing is straight...

61 posted on 07/07/2011 8:55:35 AM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (JMO but I reserve the right to be wrong...)
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To: All; FReepers

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62 posted on 07/07/2011 8:56:04 AM PDT by DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis (Want to make $$$? It's easy! Use FR as a platform to pimp your blog for hits!!!)
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To: muawiyah

So that’s where the term ‘chop-chop’ came from?.........like ‘aye-aye, sir’?.............


63 posted on 07/07/2011 8:56:23 AM PDT by Red Badger (Casey Anthony: "Surprise, surprise."...............)
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To: Gabz
It was also a lack of MUSCLES. Proper use of one of the older manuals (typical of a highschool typing class) took some muscle development. You'd gotten more speed by doing curls with weights than by any amount of typing.

I was able to make the typewriters bounce when I threw the platen back! (AND with either hand)

64 posted on 07/07/2011 8:56:49 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: newzjunkey
'The skill of handwriting is a dying art,' [East Allen County Schools Superintendent Karyle Green] said. 'Everything isn’t handwritten anymore.'...

So, apparently is the English language. Most would say, "[Almost] Nothing is handwritten anymore..."

65 posted on 07/07/2011 8:56:49 AM PDT by hattend (Let's all meet Sarah at her last bus stop -- 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in Jan 2013)
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To: newzjunkey
Keyboard skills ...

Wonderfully great thing, to have keyboard skills.

Right up to the moment the power goes out.

66 posted on 07/07/2011 8:56:52 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: newzjunkey
I remember when I was a kid, we got drilled, drilled, and drilled some more to write cursive, we had to learn it, write essays in it, the whole 9 yards......Amazingly, when I got to High School, I wound up never using it again (except to write my signature).

To be blunt, I haven't used cursive in over 20 years for anything other then my signature (and now I "print" my signature).

Schools should have gotten rid of cursive a long long time ago, and kids should be learning how to type instead, though, personally, I think we should teach them to use a DVORAK keyboard instead of the traditional QWERTY, but thats something that will have to wait (if it ever happens).

67 posted on 07/07/2011 8:58:23 AM PDT by Sonny M ("oderint dum metuant")
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To: newzjunkey
I learned in 2nd grade. It didn't take long at all. What's crowded it out?

Buggery, "gender" awareness, and condoms.

68 posted on 07/07/2011 8:59:01 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: dmz
It’s 2011, Kirkwood. When in the real world will they use cursive?

Every night at dinner time. I have to sign my debit card bill after totaling the tip for the final amount.

Printing has its place. I do that on engineering drawings that are going out to vendors. I take meeting notes with pen and paper in cursive. In college, I would write 30 pages of notes in a 1 1/2 hour lecture in cursive. My handwriting density on 33 line 8 1/2 x 11 blue line is approximately equal to single spaced, 10 pitch typing. If the little dears coming out of the public schools want to compete in college against persons properly prepared, they need to learn reading and writing skills. Ditto for mathematics.

69 posted on 07/07/2011 9:00:05 AM PDT by Myrddin
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To: Spktyr; All

What use is there for cursive? I take notes...because it means I will likely remember what I’m hearing....and I can write very fast (cursive)....but, then I can type probably about 100+ wpm, too....both skills can be useful. But, I don’t think we need to spend a lot of school time on either one. (I made my teenage son take a summer typing class in the 1980’s)


70 posted on 07/07/2011 9:01:53 AM PDT by goodnesswins (...both islam and the democrat plantation thrive on poverty)
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To: gov_bean_ counter

Of course not!

I use graph paper......................


71 posted on 07/07/2011 9:03:14 AM PDT by Red Badger (Casey Anthony: "Surprise, surprise."...............)
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To: Red Badger

Oh jeez. I thought I was having a reasonable conversation.

My mistake.


72 posted on 07/07/2011 9:03:42 AM PDT by dmz
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To: Red Badger
I have my own idiosyncratic writing style ~ it's more personal than ANYTHING you can concoct with handwriting.

Every now and then I'll go on a tear and do something very much like a standard lead-in paragraph in a Scientific American article (from the good old days).

Most folks would read those paragraphs and say "Hmm, so that's what this is about" and read the rest of the article, or ignore it.

It's not easy to learn that one, but it's useful.

That and many other standard styles go into the way I structure information. Over the years I received many calls from lawyers and customers asking if I'd written any particular document or letter (regarding some case they'd handled) because, as they'd say, it sounds just like you.

Usually I had.

My words are my signature in any case.

Now,your turn. Tell us how we can tell you wrote something just by reading it?

73 posted on 07/07/2011 9:04:18 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Red Badger
So very, very sad. :)
74 posted on 07/07/2011 9:04:32 AM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (JMO but I reserve the right to be wrong...)
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To: newzjunkey

Handwriting ended a long time ago. Like always the schools are a good 5 to 10 years behind the curve.


75 posted on 07/07/2011 9:04:49 AM PDT by discostu (Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn)
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To: dmz

Note that this edict is being agreed to by the TEACHERS UNION..........................


76 posted on 07/07/2011 9:05:14 AM PDT by Red Badger (Casey Anthony: "Surprise, surprise."...............)
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To: Spktyr

I can probably write 20 times faster in cursive than in block letters. I also know I can write in cursive at least twice if not 3 times faster than typing on a standard keyboard, and I’m not a bad typist. Anyone who thinks cursive is useless and slow doesn’t do much writing.


77 posted on 07/07/2011 9:05:16 AM PDT by Kirkwood (Zombie Hunter)
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To: Sonny M

When you get up into the 200 wpm range doesn’t matter how the keyboards are laid out ~ the bending and adjustments only work for the amateurs!


78 posted on 07/07/2011 9:06:10 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Sonny M
Why did you type Dr. August Dvorak's last name in all capitals?

The following question may seem completely unrelated, but do you have any opinion at all regarding Esperanto?

79 posted on 07/07/2011 9:07:56 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: Red Badger

You don’t have to put pen to paper to write. You just wrote that post there with neither, just like I’m writing this one. The bookstore is filled with books written on keyboards.


80 posted on 07/07/2011 9:08:08 AM PDT by discostu (Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn)
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