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Post by cestlefun17 on Dec 5, 2011 8:45:03 GMT -5
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Post by Smurfette Principle on Dec 5, 2011 8:52:00 GMT -5
Yay! Cursive is important and keyboards just aren't the same.
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Post by shykid on Dec 5, 2011 9:04:32 GMT -5
But is it that ugly blocky stuff that people call “cursive” today? (My mom has excellent penmanship, and she taught me cursive. I was homeschooled when kids learnt it, so my style is basically identical to the second one. I get compliments on it and told I write “old-fashioned.”)
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Post by verasthebrujah on Dec 5, 2011 9:08:05 GMT -5
As a teacher in Indiana, I can't express how happy this makes me. I don't really care if my students write in cursive, but I need them to be able to read it. None of the students younger than about 14 learned cursive in public schools. I tend to use cursive when writing on the board or grading papers, and it is incredibly annoying to have to erase and rewrite it, or to have to go over every single comment I wrote on their homework.
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Post by cestlefun17 on Dec 5, 2011 9:23:12 GMT -5
Be sure to write your state representatives, verasthebrujah, because it's not a done deal yet. (I'd say a nice, handwritten letter would be fitting!)
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Post by shykid on Dec 5, 2011 9:25:45 GMT -5
As a teacher in Indiana, I can't express how happy this makes me. I don't really care if my students write in cursive, but I need them to be able to read it. None of the students younger than about 14 learned cursive in public schools. I tend to use cursive when writing on the board or grading papers, and it is incredibly annoying to have to erase and rewrite it, or to have to go over every single comment I wrote on their homework. I actually haven’t had that problem yet (though the most teaching I have done so far is as a TA, and I’ll be interning next semester), but I’ve already graded a lot of work with sloppy and nigh-illegible handwriting. I don’t care if students write in print or cursive—hell, I don’t even care if it’s pretty or not—I just want to be able to read it.
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Post by brendanrizzo on Dec 5, 2011 9:35:24 GMT -5
Finally, some good news. I'm practically the only person I know who writes in cursive. It's a dying art.
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Post by N. De Plume on Dec 5, 2011 10:08:40 GMT -5
You know, even if somehow computer writing completely replaced pen and paper, wouldn’t there still be cursive typefaces?
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Post by Shane for Wax on Dec 5, 2011 10:20:14 GMT -5
No matter what I do I can't make my handwriting look any better. I would sit for hours trying to make it look pretty and legible but it never got better. I have some old writing assignments from when I was in 3rd grade and other times and was learning cursive. It was even less legible.
Yet, when I do calligraphy my writing becomes legible.
The sheer fact that I couldn't write legibly no matter how hard I tried was upsetting to me and still is. It's the reason I was able to use my computer in college to take notes because my writing was so illegible that I couldn't decipher my own handwriting.
When in college one of my professors wrote in cursive on the blackboard and he did it so sloppily I couldn't read a single bit of it. And I'm usually able to decipher cursive.
I think there are more pressing matters to attend to in the schools than learning cursive, personally.
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Post by Vene on Dec 5, 2011 12:01:55 GMT -5
Cursive has become archaic and the time when it is used the most is for signatures. Print is far more likely to be legible, which is why it is used for practically every other setting.
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Post by verasthebrujah on Dec 5, 2011 12:32:32 GMT -5
My cursive is generally far more legible than my printing. I find it easier to write quickly in cursive than in print, and my hand simply cannot keep up with my brain when I print. Beyond that, I think that they need to have the skill of reading cursive more than writing it. Yes, most writing is done digitally now, but many students in many career fields will have to deal with handwritten instructions or reviews in the course of their careers. They need to be able to understand that.
Besides, learning cursive isn't particularly difficult or time consuming. At my school we teach it using cheap little workbooks that the students work their way through in their spare time in English (If they finish their vocab test early, for instance). I'm Social Studies, not English, but the last time I checked was a month into the semester and they were probably 1/4 of the way through the books (on average).
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Post by Caitshidhe on Dec 5, 2011 12:48:50 GMT -5
Obviously kids are going to need to learn how to READ script or cursive or whatever the fuck you want to call it--it's just something you need to learn how to do, like adding and subtracting.
Even so, forcing kids to write a specific way is just stupid. Somehow cursive (by the way, I fucking hate that word) has taken on almost a divinity among teachers, like it's sacred or something. I had teachers for YEARS who outright forbade students from printing, anywhere, ever, at all. I mean, like, you'd fail an assignment or a test or a project if you printed on it--a correct answer would be marked wrong if you didn't write in cursive. In the fifth grade I wanted to get up in front of the class and teach them all a trick my mom showed me about how to remember the differences between there/their/they're (which is a HUGE deal for me because I HATE public speaking) but when I went to write on the blackboard and revealed that in order for it to work I would have to print, SHE MADE ME SIT BACK DOWN AND REFUSED TO LET ME TEACH THE CLASS A HELPFUL TRICK TO AVOID COMMON SPELLING MISTAKES.
(This same teacher also firmly believed that everyone's handwriting should slant slightly forward, so she made us all write with our papers turned at a 90-degree angle to the left or right depending on whether you were right or left handed.)
It's pretty obvious I'm biased here, but it really just strikes me as very pointless to MAKE kids write in a certain way rather than letting them develop a handwriting that suits them best (mine looks like it's halfway between print and script, with some letter combinations joining together and others unconnected, but I was absolutely flat-out FORBIDDEN to write like this until I was in college). It seems just as arbitrary as demanding that they tie their shoes a certain way. Why does it matter, as long as the end result is the same and serviceable?
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Post by cestlefun17 on Dec 5, 2011 12:53:26 GMT -5
I agree with everything you're saying verasthebrujah. I'm also averse to the sentiment that computers can just do everything for us and we don't have to do anything for ourselves. I guess I'm very grandpa-ish in that regard. Another pet peeve of mine is when cashiers can't make change in their head. I buy something in a store, for like $15.62 and give the cashier a 20 and he puts it in the computer, then realize I have $1.02 in my pocket and try to give him that and he looks at me like I have three heads and won't take it because he can't figure out how much to give me back.
I agree your teachers' reactions are overboard, but children need to at least try writing and mastering cursive before they dismiss it.
Your teachers' insistence on cursive probably stems from the fact that it used to be considered improper and crude to handwrite in block letters, especially if you were writing correspondence to someone.
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Post by erictheblue on Dec 5, 2011 12:58:05 GMT -5
My cursive is awful. No other way to put it. No matter how hard I tried in grade school, it is really bad. When I got to high school and were allowed to switch to printing, I did.
My freshman year of college, one thing the College of Engineering trained into us was writing in all-caps. To this day (17 years later), I still write in all-caps. It's not great handwriting, but it is readable.
When I took the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test), there was a statement we had to write in cursive on our answer sheet. (The general "I didn't cheat on this test," but very flowery.) It had to be written word-for-word. The first time I took the LSAT, I froze for a few seconds because I could not remember how to make some letters in cursive. I am pretty sure I made several wrong, but I also doubt anyone could read it. (I intentionally wrote as badly as I could to cover my mistakes.)
I really don't understand the idea behind cursive. Unless a person's handwriting is wonderful, printing looks cleaner and neater.
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Post by Vene on Dec 5, 2011 13:00:57 GMT -5
My cursive is generally far more legible than my printing. I find it easier to write quickly in cursive than in print, and my hand simply cannot keep up with my brain when I print. Beyond that, I think that they need to have the skill of reading cursive more than writing it. Yes, most writing is done digitally now, but many students in many career fields will have to deal with handwritten instructions or reviews in the course of their careers. They need to be able to understand that. I never said digital, and I'm not sure how handwritten=cursive when you can write in print. It's what I have done for every single job I've ever had and my bosses would have been pissed if I wrote in script because it is less legible. Cursive is basically becoming the new calligraphy, it can look pretty if you focus on it, but it's not really a practical method of writing. Is there nothing else they could be doing with their time? I'm also not sure what you mean by "spare time."
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