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Why the Education Establishment Hates Cursive
American Thinker ^ | December 23, 2016 | Bruce Deitrick Price

Posted on 12/23/2016 5:03:55 AM PST by Kaslin

Modern educators are dismissive of cursive. Indeed, many are hostile to such a degree that you should immediately suspect that they are up to something.

Here is an education journalist providing the Party Line: "Cursive writing is an anachronism. Spending any classroom time on it is comparable to teaching how to use an abacus: it's interesting as a history lesson, and probably offers some side benefits, but it is not at all practical as a day-to-day skill in the modern, connected world."

A professor of education argues: "Cursive should be allowed to die. In fact, it's already dying, despite having been taught for decades." (You can depend on education professors to confuse "decades" with "centuries.")

When you read such swaggering attacks on cursive, you might assume that the question is settled. The old geezer is dead, so take him off life support. You rarely see thoughtful praise of cursive. Even people who are sentimentally inclined to support cursive can't think of many reasons to do so.

I propose a higher truth: the Education Establishment is always a reliable guide to what is good. If our socialist professors rail against X, you know that X is educational gold. Here are eight reasons why cursive is valuable and we should fight to keep it in the classroom:

1) LEARN TO READ FASTER. The main thing is that learning cursive accelerates learning to read. If it did nothing else, this alone would still make it a huge asset. Cursive obviously makes a child more aware of letter forms and how words are spelled. Don Potter, the phonics guru, states: "Any attempt to educate American children that neglects the direct development of fluent handwriting is doomed to fail. The little dribble of handwriting done with the typical phonics programs is FAR below optimal."

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: cursive; horseandbuggy; idioticrant; idiotprofessor; leftismoncampus; obsolescence; silliness
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To: rlmorel

I sometimes want to slap folkd who don’t uncover in church.


121 posted on 12/23/2016 8:52:55 AM PST by zeugma (I'm going to get fat from all this schadenfreude)
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To: gr8eman

Probably a big X.


122 posted on 12/23/2016 8:53:53 AM PST by stylecouncilor ("The future ain't what it used to be." Yogi Berra)
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To: sparklite2

The issue is not resistance to changing times or technology.

Maintaining the ability to read important documents is crucial to one’s independence and knowledge. Handing over knowledge and perspective to the left (already done in many ways) will lead to ignorance and a loss of cultural identity and individualism.

Incidentally, the King James Version is the standard, and subsequent translations are really watered-down versions that supposedly ‘keep up with the times’.

Finally, studies show that writing things down enables one to remember it better and faster. Shunning cursive handwriting for the keyboard inhibits learning, another goal of the NWO goons.


123 posted on 12/23/2016 9:05:02 AM PST by Paulie (America without Christ is like a Chemistry book without the periodic table.)
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To: Kaslin

Leaning to print and then write cursive strengthens the brain and increases intelligence. Of course they hate it.


124 posted on 12/23/2016 9:19:04 AM PST by little jeremiah (Half the truth is often a great lie. B. Franklin)
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To: Terry Mross
Teletype machines printed in cursive?

Depends on what you mean by "teletype". I used to see IBM Selectrics repurposed as "teletypes". Heck, even Diablo typewriters.

Not a problem to swap the ball (element) or daisy wheel to get cursive.

125 posted on 12/23/2016 9:29:19 AM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: little jeremiah

If they don’t learn to write in cursive they can’t read it. Of course a lot depends on the writer’s handwriting. If someone writes sloppily his or her handwriting is hard to read


126 posted on 12/23/2016 9:32:41 AM PST by Kaslin (Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible)
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To: momincombatboots

When you think about it, learning cursive means the kids are also increasing their pattern differentiation skills, too, adapting to reading others’ handwriting.


127 posted on 12/23/2016 9:34:38 AM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: zeugma

I completely don’t get that at all, not taking your hat off in a church.

Eh. With each passing day, I feel more and more out of touch with the prevailing culture, and less and less irritated about being out of touch!


128 posted on 12/23/2016 9:40:21 AM PST by rlmorel (Orwell described Liberals when he wrote of those who "repudiate morality while laying claim to it.")
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To: Kaslin

Cursive is a dying art, with no value in the modern world.

It’s like buying a AM radio with tubes.

If you want one, fine. Just don’t force everyone else to limit themselves to it.


129 posted on 12/23/2016 9:40:54 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Paulie

studies show that writing things down enables one to remember it better


Cursive isn’t the only way to write things down.
Printing is usually more legible, anyway.


130 posted on 12/23/2016 9:50:59 AM PST by sparklite2 (I'm less interested in the rights I have than the liberties I can take.)
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To: WKUHilltopper
I also learned math in the first grade with an abacus

We were slapped on our hands by our teachers if we used our fingers to count.

My daughter though had a teacher in the third or fourth grade that taught the students math with a specific method of using the fingers. It was actually quite neat and fast

131 posted on 12/23/2016 9:53:17 AM PST by Kaslin (Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible)
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To: Kaslin

It made you faster, not me, and nobody could read anything I ever wrote in cursive. Teach kids to type. That will provide more for them than any cursive writing ever will, unless they want to be a calligrapher.


132 posted on 12/23/2016 10:01:23 AM PST by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
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To: Kaslin

Brain research using MRIs has conclusively proven that people use a different part of the brain to read and write in cursive than they do print. Only the foolish would discount this difference without understanding what else it may affect.

The cry of the liberal is “I don’t understand why it is useful; therefore, it isn’t!” Also, the cry of the child...


133 posted on 12/23/2016 10:03:09 AM PST by Charles H. (The_r0nin) (Hwaet! Lar bith maest hord, sothlice!)
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To: Nifster

I signed for my delivery of pizza last night


134 posted on 12/23/2016 10:05:08 AM PST by gr8eman (Keep Winning!)
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To: Kaslin

I hope Trump repeals and replaces public schools - that would be huge.


135 posted on 12/23/2016 10:06:52 AM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: Terry Mross

And spell check is mot your friend

To me this is all just pure laziness. Can’t spell use emojis. Can’t think have it auto fill for you


136 posted on 12/23/2016 10:15:57 AM PST by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: sparklite2

Cursive shouldn’t be no problem to read, if it is written neat and not sloppy so you can’t make the letters out.


137 posted on 12/23/2016 10:46:49 AM PST by Kaslin (Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible)
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To: 1Old Pro

Repeal how? Not every parents can afford sending their kids to private schools, and not every parent is able to home school. I for example would have never been able to home school our children.


138 posted on 12/23/2016 10:51:45 AM PST by Kaslin (Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible)
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To: Kaslin
Repeal how? Not every parents can afford sending their kids to private schools, and not every parent is able to home school. I for example would have never been able to home school our children.

In NY I think we spend 14,000 per student - how about we give each parent 10k/year to spend on private schools that would grow and compete and provide a better education for less than that.

139 posted on 12/23/2016 10:56:26 AM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: Carl Vehse

140 posted on 12/23/2016 11:05:25 AM PST by mikrofon (A blessed Christmas to all!)
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