The Future

[Jgrden]

Someday cursive writing will be considered a code.

 

[mark james]

Someday cursive writing will be considered a code.

Yes, But if it is a respected "code" of our elders, and preserved, and studied, and allowed to retain its place in the evolution of writing... all is well.

Maybe we should preserve it! (Or support avenues to preserve cursive writing...).

 

[Herb G]

There was some court case recently where they couldn't prosecute the guy because the witness couldn't read cursive. She was 18 & said she was never taught how to read it or write it. I find that hard to believe. But then again, we're raising a generation of idiots because they're glued to their electronic devices. :frown:

 

[grueinthedark]

Hmmm...Then can I call my stick shift a Millennial anti-theft device?

 

[magpens]

A young employee at the tool store couldn't believe it when I told him I held one of the first ballpoint pens in my school when I was 7 and the teacher wouldn't let us use them because they were considered to be unreliable and messy ... and then I told him we learned cursive using a stick pen with a sharp nib that had to be dipped in ink !!!

Looking around the world today I would kinda like it if the calendars all got reset to 1950 provided we could keep our electronically speed-controlled lathes and the medical advances that have taken place over the years.

 

[jcm71]

What is just as bad is that so many youngsters can only tell time using a digital watch. They have no clue what those watch hands are for.

 

[Herb G]

What is just as bad is that so many youngsters can only tell time using a digital watch. They have no clue what those watch hands are for.

I saw on the news recently where they showed 6 year olds an old rotary dial telephone. None of them knew what it was, except one little kid.
He knew because his Grandma had one just like it. :biggrin:

 

[Ed McDonnell]

The only thing that never changes is that things always change. The older you get the more our attitudes towards change changes.

I often wonder how my grandparents felt about me going to the grocery store and coming home with packages of meat instead of going out back and doing what you do when you transition a live animal from the range to the dinner plate.

Ed

 

[maxwell_smart007]

I like cursive, but I don't know that it's a 'necessity' which must be taught in schools...I'd rather focus on sentence structure and literacy than teach an antiquated system of recording...it's like 'calligraphy' - very cool, but not necessary.

I would encourage people to learn it on their own time, if they want, but cursive in school has been replaced by more important priorities...and in reality, paper-and-pen is being replaced as a recording medium by computers.

If you were choosing between two classrooms - hypothetically, as we don't often get choices - would you pick the one that teaches cursive, or the one that teaches programming, safe online searching, money management, or website design? Which is more likely to help a student learn real-world skills?

We switched from the abacus to the calculator to the computer...I think cursive writing is in the same vein the modern, every day world (its value is as a 'cool' thing to learn/do) . We don't teach Latin anymore either - and I argue that that would have more benefit to a student than cursive...

 

[tbroye]

We love to write messages in our Grandkids card in cursive, drive them craze trying to read them Nice LONG messages and watch them ask their parent to read them.

 

[MTViper]

When my sons were learning cursive in the late 80s, I made them learn using a cartridge (fountain) pen. Really improved their cursive and taught them to love fine writing instruments.

Having said that, I agree with maxwell. Teach them to write a sentence. Teach them the difference between then and than. Teach them the difference between two, to, and too as well as there, their, and they're. I was a college prof for 20 years after the military and I was appalled at the writing I got from undergrads and grads. My area of expertise was aeronautical science, but I taught a lot of writing too.

Cursive is fun, but being able to express an idea clearly and concisely is even more important.

 

[magpens]

I don't care if I am regarded as old fashioned ... TEACH THEM CURSIVE because they won't learn it otherwise; it's an essential skill.

I also believe that being able to express an idea clearly and concisely is VERY important. And that includes teaching them the difference between two, to, and too, as well as there, their, and they're.

 

[Charlie_W]

So....without cursive, how does one sign a document or contract? By printing?
Is that their legal signature?
So many forms want printed name as well as signature.

 

[Curly]

How are they going to cope with situations when traveling to foreign countries? When sitting in a police station trying to fill out a detailed report of how their passport, money, jewelry and electronics were stolen, along with the description of the robbers, they will look like idiots. Let's see them read the hand written instructions back to their hotel a kind local gave them when the cell service is down and they are lost. It isn't just about what they need to get by on this continent.

 

[Drewboy22]

I like cursive, but I don't know that it's a 'necessity' which must be taught in schools...I'd rather focus on sentence structure and literacy than teach an antiquated system of recording...it's like 'calligraphy' - very cool, but not necessary.

I would encourage people to learn it on their own time, if they want, but cursive in school has been replaced by more important priorities...and in reality, paper-and-pen is being replaced as a recording medium by computers.

If you were choosing between two classrooms - hypothetically, as we don't often get choices - would you pick the one that teaches cursive, or the one that teaches programming, safe online searching, money management, or website design? Which is more likely to help a student learn real-world skills?

We switched from the abacus to the calculator to the computer...I think cursive writing is in the same vein the modern, every day world (its value is as a 'cool' thing to learn/do) . We don't teach Latin anymore either - and I argue that that would have more benefit to a student than cursive...

Why does it have to be one or the other? I can remember when I was in school we had several things on our agenda; Reading, Writing and arithmetic. When I got into high school I could have chosen Latin as a foreign language if I wanted.

My biggest issue is not that we do not teach cursive, but do not teach penmanship either. Penmanship was a big part of my grade for many years.

Oh yeah, You're and your - people need to learn when to use it

 

[Frank Nemke sr]

cursive

Someday cursive writing will be considered a code.

My youngest son was in the first grade his teachers tough him to write cursive because is was A.D.D. He still writes and has a real nice handwriting.
Me? I had to write invoices and was told a couple times by differant people to please print so they could read it. Now I can read mt own writing, but only before it gets cold.

 

[TimS124]

So....without cursive, how does one sign a document or contract? By printing?
Is that their legal signature?
So many forms want printed name as well as signature.

I bought a house on the east coast last year while living on the west coast...almost all of the document signing was done electronically. A few actual signatures the day I got keys were the only physical signatures involved.

The offer, counter offer, inspections, bickering over what gets fixed or not after the inspections...all the steps that used to require tons of initials and signatures on piles of paper were done digitally. That's in a city of about 90,000 people.

We moved to the east coast and sold the west coast house a few months later...mostly digital signatures there as well (with the final signing being done in front of a notary). This was a city of over 1 million people...and less of its process had gone digital, but it was still a significant amount.

My wife and I bought a car late last year...mostly digital signatures there as well on documents that used to requires tons of initials and multiple physical signatures.

 

[TellicoTurning]

Someday cursive writing will be considered a code.

My hand writing both cursive and printed have always been considered a code... some times after the ink has dried, even I can't read it. :wink::biggrin:

 

[Kragax]

My wife and my 18 yr old daughter both have beautiful handwriting. Mine is terrible. The daughter is now learning calligraphy. She's pretty good at it too.

 

[sbwertz]

Hmmm...Then can I call my stick shift a Millennial anti-theft device?

My old Citroen was pretty much theft proof. I could leave it in a parking lot unlocked with the keys in the ignition and no one would be likely to steal it.

To start it, you had to turn on the key, then pull the turn indicator lever toward you to engage the starter. More than once I heard my husband cranking and cranking and it wouldn't start. I'd open the door and yell "Turn on the key!" He'd be cranking it with the ignition turned off!

 

[leehljp]

There is a form of writing in Japanese that is similar to cursive here. My teachers could read it well, but I never developed any form of "speed reading" in that form. It was like code! I basically did the equivalent of "printing" my Japanese, which is all they wanted anyway.

I could write much more legible Japanese that I could or can my native English. :redface:

 

[Rockytime]

What is just as bad is that so many youngsters can only tell time using a digital watch. They have no clue what those watch hands are for.

I have a friend who writes technical IT manuals. Yet, she can't tell time with an analog watch. Go figure.

 

[TellicoTurning]

What is just as bad is that so many youngsters can only tell time using a digital watch. They have no clue what those watch hands are for.

I know this is probably true, but can't imagine not knowing how to read a clock... I only spent 4 years in the military, but I still automatically look at a clock and see the time in the 24 hour military format.

 

[TellicoTurning]

Hmmm...Then can I call my stick shift a Millennial anti-theft device?

To start it, you had to turn on the key, then pull the turn indicator lever toward you to engage the starter. More than once I heard my husband cranking and cranking and it wouldn't start. I'd open the door and yell "Turn on the key!" He'd be cranking it with the ignition turned off!

My lawn tractor starts like that... you have to pull up on the power take off lever, then turn the ignition key... 'course that's a glitch in the tractor....

In 1960 while still in high school, my home room teacher asked me to pull her car from where it was parked to the front of the school... it was a '56 Buick that had the starter under the accelerator ????, you had to press the accelerator all the way to the floor to engage the starter button, then let up when the engine caught... I am and was embarrassed to say I didn't know how to start her car.