Stop teaching cursive writing in schools ?

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: InflatableBuddha

Originally posted by: nixium

Originally posted by: Perknose
This thread makes me irrationally sad.

me too, and i'm under 30.

Thirded. This is yet another sign that I'm getting old - something I was taught in grade 3 that is about to disappear (I'm only 26 BTW).

Everyone here decrying the uselessness of cursive writing apparently hasn't written romantic cards and letters to their girlfriend. Trust me, the extra effort is much appreciated.

Pfft, a REAL man would hire a professional calligrapher and poet to show his love

 

[Red Squirrel]

I don't really see this an issue, BUT they should still teach at least normal letter writing, because regardless of how much technology is around, you will hit a situation where you need to write something by hand.

That said, I can't stand writing stuff by hand. It's 10 times slower, dirty and more work.

 

[Saga]

No guitar serenade for you eh Nakedfrog?

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: polarmystery

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Cursive is used extensively in the engineering field. Our entire senior project (design a water reservoir) has to be written in cursive.

*looks around cubicle*

Nope, no cursive anywhere.

Yeah, only the old timers use it and in the real world(not academia) communication is key and printing(no matter how sloppy) is easier for all to read than dozens of different cursive styles.

<- tells old-timers that hand me handwritten project notes in cursive to type it up and email the notes to me. I don't have time to decipher their scribbles.

 

[elmer92413]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
I'm curious how you will sign a legal document , print your name ?
How will you leave a note to someone , write in print the whole thing ? It is fine to say use a keyboard, but keyboards are not everywhere.

PGP duh!

 

[Saga]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
I'm curious how you will sign a legal document , print your name ?
How will you leave a note to someone , write in print the whole thing ? It is fine to say use a keyboard, but keyboards are not everywhere.

My legal signature is a single, straight line. Has been since the first check I ever had to write. Saw no purpose in anything else, and if I was the victim of identity theft having a complex signature would have probably saved me from 0.001% of the potential fraud.

 

[Exterous]

I was required to use only cursive writing by the 4th grade. The habit followed me till college. One of my professors pulled me aside one day to tell me that my hand writing was illegible. I was shocked as I was in an Architectural field and had been told my writing was 'neat and precise'

Well, come to find out that he had never encountered a student that wrote in cursive before and he was unable to read it (he was foreign) We had a brief argument about whether it was, in fact, an accepted form of writing which was ended by a google search. Still had to do the rest of my homework in 'regular' print though

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Cursive is used extensively in the engineering field. Our entire senior project (design a water reservoir) has to be written in cursive.

*tap tap* doesn't seem like my sarcasm meter is working *tap tap tap*

You're kidding right?

 

[thescreensavers]

I tried learning Cursive back in 6th grade or w/e, I have bad hand writing never could understand what I wrote, typing was always easier faster more efficient. Since then I type most of my stuff.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Originally posted by: CADsortaGUY

Originally posted by: polarmystery

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Cursive is used extensively in the engineering field. Our entire senior project (design a water reservoir) has to be written in cursive.

*looks around cubicle*

Nope, no cursive anywhere.

Yeah, only the old timers use it and in the real world(not academia) communication is key and printing(no matter how sloppy) is easier for all to read than dozens of different cursive styles.

<- tells old-timers that hand me handwritten project notes in cursive to type it up and email the notes to me. I don't have time to decipher their scribbles.

Not to mention with programs like autocad it makes it so much easier. You spend more time designing less time measuring lines and erasing pencil marks.

 

[I Saw OJ]

I haven't written in cursive in years, I dont remember all the letters anymore.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Saga

Originally posted by: Modelworks
I'm curious how you will sign a legal document , print your name ?
How will you leave a note to someone , write in print the whole thing ? It is fine to say use a keyboard, but keyboards are not everywhere.

My legal signature is a single, straight line. Has been since the first check I ever had to write. Saw no purpose in anything else, and if I was the victim of identity theft having a complex signature would have probably saved me from 0.001% of the potential fraud.

My father worked for the IRS, and in the 40s he did collections. Some people's official signature was they would hold a pencil to the paper, and hit the top with their hand. The resulting mark was their signature :^D

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Saga
No guitar serenade for you eh Nakedfrog?

That part I can handle myself.

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: InflatableBuddha

Originally posted by: nixium

Originally posted by: Perknose
This thread makes me irrationally sad.

me too, and i'm under 30.

Thirded. This is yet another sign that I'm getting old - something I was taught in grade 3 that is about to disappear (I'm only 26 BTW).

Everyone here decrying the uselessness of cursive writing apparently hasn't written romantic cards and letters to their girlfriend. Trust me, the extra effort is much appreciated.

Or use photoshop and make a love letter that looks better than something from Hallmark. That will be more appreciated nowadays than some half legible hand written letter.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: TruePaige

Originally posted by: InflatableBuddha

Originally posted by: nixium

Originally posted by: Perknose
This thread makes me irrationally sad.

me too, and i'm under 30.

Thirded. This is yet another sign that I'm getting old - something I was taught in grade 3 that is about to disappear (I'm only 26 BTW).

Everyone here decrying the uselessness of cursive writing apparently hasn't written romantic cards and letters to their girlfriend. Trust me, the extra effort is much appreciated.

I write them all the time. Beautiful content is much more appreciated.

:thumbsup:

I ended up thousands of miles from home at a time before cell phones, texting, or home computers of any kind. Even land-line long distance was a horribly expensive propostion.

So, I wrote long 6-7 page letters to my closest friends and my parents, and received the same in return, all in cursive.

And, because no one had 24/7 instant means to burp out their most casually inane half-thought, we all put our heart and soul and mind into those missives. It's amazing how people of all stripes stepped up to the plate and wrote really, really well.

When you wrote a letter, you did it with feeling and craft and forethought, and you did it in cursive, which flowed like the organized ideas that flowed from your adult brain. And what resulted was a beauty and depth you rarely see on this forum.

It is undoubtedly true that cursive will be more and more marginalized and fall by the wayside as the yip-yap mongoloids and their ty;dr three-word attention span take over.

And . . . it's not the loss of cursive itself that I will mourn. It is the more considered and disciplined culture of general literacy and deferred gratification and depth and structure of thought that goes part and parcel with it that I will miss.

Mark my words: You ARE what you do. Don't bullshit yourself, you are what you do. Accross all cultures and ages and disciplines and peoples, this eternal verity pertains.

When ALL you do is blurt out sentence fragments as your main means of communication, that seeps into your pattern of consciousness and soon becomes ALL you are freaking capable of doing.

Face it, ty;dr writers, you type this because it would actually hurt your little head to even try to read, say, three medium length paragraphs on one subject. Oh, sure, you may claim to yourself that this is not true, but try it next time, and notice how hard it has become for you, and wake the fusk up to who you now are.

Three word sentence fragment boy, you are like the oaf who never exercises but still thinks he can crank off 100 push-ups or run reasonably fast. Congratulations, you are the sedentary fat-ass of the world of adult communication, stuffing yourself on the fast food of tweets and texts, grown obese with your inability to concentrate.

And just like fat people disgust you for their basic lack of adult discipline, you disgust me.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom

Originally posted by: InflatableBuddha

Originally posted by: nixium

Originally posted by: Perknose
This thread makes me irrationally sad.

me too, and i'm under 30.

Thirded. This is yet another sign that I'm getting old - something I was taught in grade 3 that is about to disappear (I'm only 26 BTW).

Everyone here decrying the uselessness of cursive writing apparently hasn't written romantic cards and letters to their girlfriend. Trust me, the extra effort is much appreciated.

Or use photoshop and make a love letter that looks better than something from Hallmark. That will be more appreciated nowadays than some half legible hand written letter.

'Cuz everyone knows Hallmark is the hallmark of love?

 

[nutxo]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom

Originally posted by: InflatableBuddha

Originally posted by: nixium

Originally posted by: Perknose
This thread makes me irrationally sad.

me too, and i'm under 30.

Thirded. This is yet another sign that I'm getting old - something I was taught in grade 3 that is about to disappear (I'm only 26 BTW).

Everyone here decrying the uselessness of cursive writing apparently hasn't written romantic cards and letters to their girlfriend. Trust me, the extra effort is much appreciated.

Or use photoshop and make a love letter that looks better than something from Hallmark. That will be more appreciated nowadays than some half legible hand written letter.

Actually that sounds kind of sterile and generic.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: nutxo

Originally posted by: BladeVenom

Originally posted by: InflatableBuddha

Originally posted by: nixium

Originally posted by: Perknose
This thread makes me irrationally sad.

me too, and i'm under 30.

Thirded. This is yet another sign that I'm getting old - something I was taught in grade 3 that is about to disappear (I'm only 26 BTW).

Everyone here decrying the uselessness of cursive writing apparently hasn't written romantic cards and letters to their girlfriend. Trust me, the extra effort is much appreciated.

Or use photoshop and make a love letter that looks better than something from Hallmark. That will be more appreciated nowadays than some half legible hand written letter.

Actually that sounds kind of sterile and generic.

Yup. With that hack-a-card-et-voila approach, methinks BladeVenom isn't getting laid anytime soon.

 

[Bibble]

I learnt to write in cursive in first or second grade and was not required to use it after 5th grade. If I were required to write something in cursive today I would fail miserably as I do not remember how to do all of the letters. I am not even 100% sure how to write my last name in cursive anymore. My signature starts out in proper cursive and then ends in big swirls.

I say drop it from the curriculum and spend more time on long division (another technique which I have since forgotten).

 

[oogabooga]

I think the frustrating thing about cursive is this. You get taught it early, it's stressed as important to know and you're (or at least I was) tested on it. Literally tested on what the correct way to write letters in cursive in lower case and capitals and all that jazz. Then we are forced to do many assignments in cursive only to practice. That year it seems everything we learned previously about printing was for not.

Of course for the rest of your academic career (and likely professional career) you will not use it. In fact, it is incredibly likely you will be told specifically NOT to write in cursive.

I think they should still teach it - if for no other reason than to be able to develop a signature. But I definitely feel my elementary school (not even my elementary school, just my 2nd or 3rd grade class, whenever it is that you learn it) placed way to much emphasis on it and it's future use.

 

[bobsmith1492]

I think cursive should still be taught but honestly, the only time I ever use it is when I sign my name.

I had to write a report in 4th grade - two pages in cursive IN PEN! I hated it... I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so any mistakes were very noticeable to me and irritated me.

I can print much faster anyway (perhaps since it's part-cursive sometimes).

I hadn't ever thought of writing to people in cursive, though. I'll have to noodle on that one!

Oh, and nice rant, Perknose!

 

[SagaLore]

The whole point in teaching cursive at a young age is to develop hand-eye coordination while combining letters into words to associate written language with thoughts.

It doesn't matter if we stop using cursive later in the education system. Its a matter of developing foundations in the brain that assist learning.

 

[frostedflakes]

Is it really that hard to read cursive if you've never been taught it? To me it doesn't seem like it would, but of course I was taught it as a kid. Most of the letters are not are not that different for cursive, with a little common sense I wouldn't think it would be that hard to decipher. Then again, I know some of the students these days aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, so...

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
The whole point in teaching cursive at a young age is to develop hand-eye coordination while combining letters into words to associate written language with thoughts.

It doesn't matter if we stop using cursive later in the education system. Its a matter of developing foundations in the brain that assist learning.

Well said. :thumbsup:

 

[miketheidiot]

I'm not particularly good at cursive and i never use formal cursive and certainly not on my signature (i use 'stylized' initials instead), i do vastly prefer writing by hand to writing on a computer in most ircumstances, although that might be in part do to having never learned to type 'properly'. I write in a script/print combined style as many here have said, and its only a little slower than my typing, i think. For the record, I type on average about 30 wpm.

In regards to the OP, i agree that cursive should be taught to kids at least to the point where they can read it and use it if they want to. I don't care what type of script they are learning, but teaching kids proper legible penmanship is a good thing for everyone, and as sagalore pointed out probably a good thing for their hand-eye coordination as well.

Originally posted by: Perknose

Originally posted by: TruePaige

Originally posted by: InflatableBuddha

Originally posted by: nixium

Originally posted by: Perknose
This thread makes me irrationally sad.

me too, and i'm under 30.

Thirded. This is yet another sign that I'm getting old - something I was taught in grade 3 that is about to disappear (I'm only 26 BTW).

Everyone here decrying the uselessness of cursive writing apparently hasn't written romantic cards and letters to their girlfriend. Trust me, the extra effort is much appreciated.

I write them all the time. Beautiful content is much more appreciated.

:thumbsup:

I ended up thousands of miles from home at a time before cell phones, texting, or home computers of any kind. Even land-line long distance was a horribly expensive propostion.

So, I wrote long 6-7 page letters to my closest friends and my parents, and received the same in return, all in cursive.

And, because no one had 24/7 instant means to burp out their most casually inane half-thought, we all put our heart and soul and mind into those missives. It's amazing how people of all stripes stepped up to the plate and wrote really, really well.

When you wrote a letter, you did it with feeling and craft and forethought, and you did it in cursive, which flowed like the organized ideas that flowed from your adult brain. And what resulted was a beauty and depth you rarely see on this forum.

It is undoubtedly true that cursive will be more and more marginalized and fall by the wayside as the yip-yap mongoloids and their ty;dr three-word attention span take over.

And . . . it's not the loss of cursive itself that I will mourn. It is the more considered and disciplined culture of general literacy and deferred gratification and depth and structure of thought that goes part and parcel with it that I will miss.

Mark my words: You ARE what you do. Don't bullshit yourself, you are what you do. Accross all cultures and ages and disciplines and peoples, this eternal verity pertains.

When ALL you do is blurt out sentence fragments as your main means of communication, that seeps into your pattern of consciousness and soon becomes ALL you are freaking capable of doing.

Face it, ty;dr writers, you type this because it would actually hurt your little head to even try to read, say, three medium length paragraphs on one subject. Oh, sure, you may claim to yourself that this is not true, but try it next time, and notice how hard it has become for you, and wake the fusk up to who you now are.

Three word sentence fragment boy, you are like the oaf who never exercises but still thinks he can crank off 100 push-ups or run reasonably fast. Congratulations, you are the sedentary fat-ass of the world of adult communication, stuffing yourself on the fast food of tweets and texts, grown obese with your inability to concentrate.

And just like fat people disgust you for their basic lack of adult discipline, you disgust me.

tl:dr


seriously though, post of the thread.

Originally posted by: SagaLore
The whole point in teaching cursive at a young age is to develop hand-eye coordination while combining letters into words to associate written language with thoughts.

It doesn't matter if we stop using cursive later in the education system. Its a matter of developing foundations in the brain that assist learning.

another good post