05-09-2013 09:55 AM - edited 05-09-2013 09:58 AM
An Interesting Breakfast Radio Show with Sami and Yumi this morning.
Amongst other things discussed, this topic came up:
"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," ABC News reports."
The recently established Common Core State Standards, the standardized educational benchmarks for U.S. public schools, omit cursive as a requirement. Some states, including Indiana and Hawaii, had dropped cursive from their curricula in favor of keyboard proficiency as early as 2011.
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," ABC News reports.
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.
"Very small proportions of adults use cursive for their day-to-day writing," Polikoff said. "Much of our communication is done on a keyboard, and the rest is done with print."
Click Here To Read Full Article
I must admit, I don't cursive write anymore my handwriting has degenerated since using the keyboard. When writing by hand, I print.
Yumi says her 9 and 11yo had just learned to print when they had to start all over again to learn cursive.
Sami says if she had kids she'd want them taught cursive writing. Of 5 callers, 3 were adamant they'd want their children to learn cursive writing. The other 2, one them a teacher said no, it's never used in real life, it's taken over by computer writing the same as we use calculator to do our maths with. The other, a child developmental practioner, said children needed cursive writing lessons to help hand-eye co-ordination.
It seems that we are regressing with the education of our children. Over 200 years we battled for public education for every child to be taught to read, write and do basic arithmetic.
I think the socially disadvantaged will become even more so if these basic skills are no longer taught in the public education system.
Technology can fail, but basic learned skills are with you a lifetime.
on 05-09-2013 02:04 PM
now why did the beginners font work but not the cursive??
on 05-09-2013 02:05 PM
on 05-09-2013 02:09 PM
I really love the cursive way of writing .. it led to me learning to do calligraphy
ultimately.
on 05-09-2013 02:10 PM
Exactly Carl ...
on 05-09-2013 02:11 PM
@*mrgrizz* wrote:that raises a very valid point.
i had never thought of the signature.
when i was at school it was called running writing
It is not running writing now. It is quite different. Now the lines are not "gone over" again and again.
on 05-09-2013 02:14 PM
my daughter has trouble reading the letters her grandmother sends her I always have to help her
on 05-09-2013 02:15 PM
a friends dad got a job based solely on his hand writing.
not on the application or resume.
they told him they were impressed by the quality of his penmanship and the detail and care taken to write it.
they were looking for someone with a eye for detail
on 05-09-2013 02:31 PM
Crikey,what on earth made you think I was suggesting your kids didn't have to work hard and practice diligently to obtain good marks in maths?
I have a natural gift for creative writing, I still had to work my butt off and practice for years before I managed to get anything published - that didn't lead me to assum, though, that anyone who was prepared to put in the hard work could acheive the same result. In school I also worked my butt of at art and practised drawing till I had tears of frustration running down my face - I was still lousy at it. And don't even get me started on music!
There is a well known story concerning the artis,t Giotto, auditioning for an important commission. He demonstrated his skill and won the job by drawing a perfect circle freehand. I imagine he also practiced very hard, but are we to assume from his acheivement that all draftsmen should learn their skills without the aid of a compass, set square or ruler?
Simple repetitive arithmatic can certainly be calculated very quickly and there are probably mathematicians who can rattle off obscure percentages or the cube root of every number from 10 to 1000000 off the top of their heads, but I suspect most people would take a fair while to calculate something like 13.7% of 99796 if they had never been taught how to use a calculator.
05-09-2013 02:55 PM - edited 05-09-2013 02:56 PM
I do think however, that the one art dying is simply writing with a stick type instrument full stop, as opposed to a keyboard of sorts.
on 05-09-2013 03:00 PM
@crikey*mate wrote:
When my eldest was in grade 9, he had to do some algebra test and use an Fx82 calculator (calculator skills are actually a part of the curriculum!). He didn't use calculators at all (mainly because he keeps losing them), so didn't on this test.
He got all of the answers correct in 20 minutes (they were allowed 40). His teacher failed him. She then called me up to the school horrified that my kid was failing Math. When I pointed out that he could do math, he had gotten every sum correct, her reply was "if he can't use a calculator he will never be able to do calculus"... I responded that Isaac Newton invented calculus and all he had was an abacus.
If part of the examination was to demonstrate that he knows how to use a calculator and he didn't, of course he would have failed. The same thing happens in other areas, sewing as an example. If part of the test/assignment is to make a garment using a sewing machine, a handsewn item (no matter how superior the french seams and hemstitching are) will not fulfill the requirements.