Stop teaching cursive writing in schools ?

[SphinxnihpS]

Writing at all will be next, but yes, it is an antiquated specialty designed to make writing faster, so it no longer serves a function. It is purely aesthetic.

HOWEVER there is some benefit to doing repetitive tasks which require hand-eye coordination and concentration.

 

[Saga]

In the age of computers, typing, and PRINTED text - cursive is obsolete and an absolute waste of anyones time.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Oh, nevermind. I seem to remember it being harder to read than that. Only thing that throws me off is some of the S's are written as "f" instead.

Nope, not "f". It's a long "s", or "?".

ZV

Interesting. I always assumed it was some form of the eszett.

In a way, it is. The eszett originated from a commingling of "?s" into a single letter, "ß". This is why the "ß" is replaced with "ss" when one is transliterating Germanic words using the English alphabet. The "ß" always replaces a double "s", which was originally represented as "?s" before the long "s" fell out of use.

ZV

 

[James Bond]

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.

That reminds me of what elementary school teachers used to say when we complained about learning cursive,
"Miss teacher, why do we have to learn cursive, it's so boring!"
"Because once you get into middle-school with the big kids you need to know what everyone is writing!"
"Wait, everyone in middle-school writes in cursive?"
"You got that right!"

3-5 years later:
"WTF! Nobody here uses cursive!"
"Don't worry kids, when you get to high school, EVERYONE will write in cursive"

4 years later:
"WTF! Nobody here uses cursive!"
"Oops"

 

[JJ650]

I don't think it should be ignored completely. True more and more people type (or text...a completely different subject and language there). There is something to be proud with good penmanship.
When we get an applicant here, there are certain parts that ask you to write down answers (for some reason HR wants this), and lately there are more and more people with such horrid handwriting it really should be shameful. Sometimes completely illegible shit is on these forms. We have declined further interviews just because of this. If we can't read wtf you are trying to say, or at least make it look like you are tyring, then we don't bother. Frankly, I don't mind that either.
I want to be able to read estimate reports (that more often or not, are done in on lcation sans computer). That stuff has to be legible, cursive or not.
I see it as a degree of laziness when people have shitty handwriting, cursive or otherwise.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: blinky8225
I don't see what the big deal is. I learned it in third grade and have never had to use it. I can read it still, but only because one out ten professors still writes in cursive. I expect that soon no one will write in cursive. I don't know anyone under 30 that does. The argument about the Declaration of Independence doesn't really apply since it's online anyway.

/me raises hand.

ZV

/slaps hand

show-off!😉

 

[MotF Bane]

Waaaahhhhh, we have too much to teach, waaaahhhh. /teachers

Stop teaching to the lowest level and moving so slowly that you could bring in a fucking squirrel and get more done. Make the homework something besides busy work, make the kids actually learn something if you're going to try to chain them to their desks at home for hours a night in preparation for later years.

Oh, and I write cursive, almost never printing. Printing is slow. Given my choice between cursive or a keyboard though, it's definitely a keyboard. 19, EE freshman.

 

[Newbian]

One can only hope it dies off.

One of the many useless items being forced on teachers to teach.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
Waaaahhhhh, we have too much to teach, waaaahhhh. /teachers

Stop teaching to the lowest level and moving so slowly that you could bring in a fucking squirrel and get more done. Make the homework something besides busy work, make the kids actually learn something if you're going to try to chain them to their desks at home for hours a night in preparation for later years.

Yes, because it's the teachers who are forcing irrelevant tests on the schools and it's the teachers who are forcing schools to cover things in health classes that are properly the domain of parents, and it's the teachers who are forcing government mandates that require gearing classes towards the lowest level students so that "no child is left behind", and it's the teachers who are threatening schools with ridiculous lawsuits when kids might get held back a grade for poor performance... :roll:

You think that the teachers really have a say in any of this crap? They don't. The problem with schooling is that the government keeps barging in with ridiculous additional requirements and constraints and is essentially doing everything it can to ensure that teachers don't have any opportunity to actually teach. Thankfully for the government, idiots who don't have the slightest clue what it's like to be a teacher put the blame on the teachers instead of on the government where it belongs.

ZV

 

[Gibson486]

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.

what???? Ah man....it's true... college really is far from real life. Cursive is not really used in engineering at all....Infact, all engineering schools should include a course in how to read bad handwriting.....

 

[RESmonkey]

cursive is stupid. it's like they made it up just to make the retarded kids feel like they're good at something when they try to write normal.



(i kid)

 

[imported_Imp]

Might be a good idea...

At the suck-ass jobs I've been doing, I've had to type written pages up for people, and cursive is a nightmare. Some people just completely 'mush' multiple letters into one squiggle, and call it a word. Once I bitch, they put it in printing, and I get 99% of it first time through.

Originally posted by: Jeff7

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.

What field of engineering? I'm in mechanical engineering, and the only thing that we're to do in cursive is our signature on documents. Everything else is to be in print, and on drawings, all properly drawn capitals.

My signature is the only cursive writing I've done in at least 10 years.

Umm... ya... My capstone/final year engineering design project of a water purification plant and water conservation program practically banned writing. Everything had to be typed up, even graphs and complicated figures had to be jerry-rigged with 'Drawing Tools' in Word. My signature and last minute corrections were the only things written in two 30 page reports.

Even with drafting, we had an entire course that taught us to print in "engineering style" writing.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I never learned cursive in school. Never. We learned italics, which was just a basic way of connecting letters together, but they still looked like their print counterparts (unlike a cursive "r" or "z" for example). I did learn cursive on my own, but it was never part of my education. And this was back in the 80s and early 90s, mind you. So this article, in my experience, is about 20 years late.

 

[Kirby]

Originally posted by: CRXican
my writing is a hybrid of non-cursive and cursive

This. We were required to write in cursive through 8th grade. It sucks.

 

[guitarslingerchris]

Originally posted by: CRXican
my writing is a hybrid of non-cursive and cursive

This. I find it incredibly annoying writing these days as I write maybe 2-3 times a month, and for very short periods, ie writing out my rent check, labeling a CD that I cannot read afterwards.

 

[Ruptga]

We spent something like an hour per day on it for a couple weeks in first grade, which is as it should be I think. Cursive is generally useless and counterproductive since nobody can read it very well, but there are still a handful of people out there that use it so we still need to be backwards compatible. We shouldn't expect (or encourage) anyone to actually write it, but you should at least know what it is.

 

[lxskllr]

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.

Was wondering about that myself. I've done this stuff for 20 years, and it's all numbers and printing(ALL CAPS).

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

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.

What field of engineering? I'm in mechanical engineering, and the only thing that we're to do in cursive is our signature on documents. Everything else is to be in print, and on drawings, all properly drawn capitals.

My signature is the only cursive writing I've done in at least 10 years.

LOL all my problem sets are on engineering pad and I don't see any room for cursive. Sure maybe when the problem asks for an explanation I gotta write, but I write in print.

Same. Oonly cursive I use is signing my name.

fleshlight, what did you do? Write a 60 page report in cursive? Honestly, I remember during our senior year when we turned in huge reports. You might as well give me a month just to write it out after finalizing the content simply because to write such a long document, you might as well hire someone.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: ric1287

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
cursive was only a few weeks! easy.

Bullshit, I spent a long time on "handwriting" and cursive is fucking pointless.

yep, far too much time is spent on worthless shit like cursive, dinosaurs, clouds, etc. Focus the majority of time on math/science and throw in some english/grammar.

How many little kids can rattle off 10 different kinds of dinosaurs but can't multiply 3x12

48? ;P

i think cursive should be taught, but more as an elective rather than requirement. I don't think the art should be lost as in it's best form, it's very pleasant to read.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Originally posted by: Saga
In the age of computers, typing, and PRINTED text - cursive is obsolete and an absolute waste of anyones time.

Bullshit. Communication is all about agreed upon references and standards. The importance of cursive writing is that it is intrinsically tied to those references and standards in a way that printing is not. If you want to communicate nuance to anyone outside your FaceBook group trying writing in cursive. The abbreviations and short cuts so prevalent on the interweb make communication to a vast number of people who supposedly speak the same language almost impossible. It's not that one is inherently better than the other, it's that printing or, specifically typing, that lends itself to being lazy and unclear.

 

[Saga]

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer

Originally posted by: Saga
In the age of computers, typing, and PRINTED text - cursive is obsolete and an absolute waste of anyones time.

Bullshit, communication is all about agreed upon references and standards. The importance of cursive writing is that it is intrinsically tied to those references and standards in a way that printing is not. If you want to communicate nuance to anyone outside your FaceBook group trying writing in cursive. The abbreviations and short cuts so prevalent on the interweb make communication to a vast number of people who supposedly speak the same language almost impossible. It's not that one is inherently better than the other, it's that printing or, specifically typing, that lends itself to being lazy and unclear.

I think this is case in point for trying too hard and entirely missing the point.

People being lazy and ignorant leads to communication being lazy and unclear. Cursive as nothing to do with it, and by your logic we would still be speaking Old English. I know it's hard to realize your standards are dated and obsolete, but unfortunately reality is a cruel mistress.

 

[tk149]

I learned cursive in second grade. I don't even think it took all year, and the class was around 50 minutes per day. I learned to touch-type in one quarter in High School.

Writing in cursive isn't rocket science. Neither is typing. Both are useful skills.

How about teaching them both, and quit blaming "advances in technology" for the failings of a few teachers?

 

[Brainonska511]

I can barely write in cursive at this point and it has always been faster for me to print something than to write something out in cursive.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I write everything in cursive, with the exception of paperwork, which is done in block letters.

 

[RedArmy]

Why did we ever string letters together in the first place? Honestly, who sat in their room going "I wonder how I can put my ideas onto paper in such a way that no one will be able to interpret them without inducing a headache". I blame Shakespeare and his cronies.