Indiana drops handwriting from school curriculum

[Dodger]

or you could teach them as a kid. It has worked for years.

Well, yeah, but not in Indiana!

 

[Doomsday101]

Well, yeah, but not in Indiana!

Evidently not

 

[cowboyeric8]

A side note: I took the GRE a few months ago, before the test started I had to write this long paragraph in cursive! I hadn't done that since about third grade, it took me forever to remember how each letter went, and my hand started cramping and I ran out of room on the paper, it was a mess. Haha. I'm not sure why they make you do that, but who knows. But I know I hadn't used it since third grade.

 

[Cowboy Brian]

My handwriting is awful, and i'm glad to see the world moving towards typing as the most common way of communication if it isn't already, really lucky as if I was born 10-20 years earlier it would've been very difficult for me because of my handwriting.

 

[Stautner]

As I mentioned earlier, by the time students get near the point of having to sign documents, you can teach them enough cursive at that point to write a signature.

Of course this is right, but it seems odd to on one hand make a point of the importance of cursive when it comes to signatures, but not in any other application.

But i do see the point with Indiana, because the primary idea behind cursive is to speed up the writing process, and since in today's world lengthy letters/papars/reports/documents etc are done on primarily on computer there is much less concern over speed in handwriting, and much more need to learn typing and computer skills.

 

[ScipioCowboy]

The WSJ weighs in.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email...AxMTAxMDEwMDExNDAyWj.html#articleTabs=article

 

[rkell87]

i am going to preface this saying i am 23, and i agree with this whole heartedly. i remember learning cursive in the third grade and never getting an answer about why we needed to know a different way to write in the same language other than "because i said so" anybody that knows me would know this is enough for me to never want to use it anyway. I remember having to write every paper in cursive in the 4th grade and that was the grade where they tought you about writing papers so there was a paper due just about every week and i hated it as it took me forever and the teacher would complain she couldn't read it. well duh! I then remember going to live with my grandparents and they were shocked that i didn't have to write my papers in cursive in 5th grade so what did they do? made me write everything in cursive because "thats the way it was done in my day, and thats the way it should be." this a BS notion and one i hope never to pass on to my kids. anyway they would make me sit at the table afterschool and after home work for hours and make me practice writing in cursive and drawing continous circles to get used to the fluid motion of the writing....i never got any better and after i moved out of their house in the 7th grade i have never used cursive except to sign my name and i never ever will because there is no need for it and i wish i could get back days of my life wasted on it. Also i bet i cant print as fast or faster than 90% of people that write in cursive and it would be easier to decipher than 90% of peoples cursive as well. [rant/]

 

[cowboyeric8]

i am going to preface this saying i am 23, and i agree with this whole heartedly. i remember learning cursive in the third grade and never getting an answer about why we needed to know a different way to write in the same language other than "because i said so" anybody that knows me would know this is enough for me to never want to use it anyway. I remember having to write every paper in cursive in the 4th grade and that was the grade where they tought you about writing papers so there was a paper due just about every week and i hated it as it took me forever and the teacher would complain she couldn't read it. well duh! I then remember going to live with my grandparents and they were shocked that i didn't have to write my papers in cursive in 5th grade so what did they do? made me write everything in cursive because "thats the way it was done in my day, and thats the way it should be." this a BS notion and one i hope never to pass on to my kids. anyway they would make me sit at the table afterschool and after home work for hours and make me practice writing in cursive and drawing continous circles to get used to the fluid motion of the writing....i never got any better and after i moved out of their house in the 7th grade i have never used cursive except to sign my name and i never ever will because there is no need for it and i wish i could get back days of my life wasted on it. Also i bet i cant print as fast or faster than 90% of people that write in cursive and it would be easier to decipher than 90% of peoples cursive as well. [rant/]

Tell us how you really feel. Haha. But I agree with you.

 

[danielofthesaints]

http://img19.*************/img19/3517/dailypicdump73064019.jpg

Algebra is the fundamental component of trig, differential calculus, integral calculus, multivariable calculus, differential equations, linear algebra.. the list goes on. If you do not have a good grasp of algebra, it is highly likely you will not understand calculus. There goes your pie chart....

 

[TheCount]

y. i remember learning cursive in the third grade and never getting an answer about why we needed to know a different way to write in the same language other than "because i said so"

You were asking your teachers questions like that in 3rd grade? If not for cursive, you probably would have been a mindless vessel well into your college years.

So as it turns out, cursive IS useful afterall. I completely reverse my position, cursive should be taught at all schools!

 

[bbgun]

Algebra is the fundamental component of trig, differential calculus, integral calculus, multivariable calculus, differential equations, linear algebra.. the list goes on. If you do not have a good grasp of algebra, it is highly likely you will not understand calculus. There goes your pie chart....

I didn't make the chart, obviously, but thanks for the unsolicited tutorial.

 

[burmafrd]

I would hope that they use the time not spent now in teaching cursive to make sure that the students are good at spelling, sentence construction, and basic math.

 

[cowboyeric8]

I would hope that they use the time not spent now in teaching cursive to make sure that the students are good at spelling, sentence construction, and basic math.

Amen. I could get on board with that.

 

[WV Cowboy]

i am going to preface this saying i am 23, and i agree with this whole heartedly. i remember learning cursive in the third grade and never getting an answer about why we needed to know a different way to write in the same language other than "because i said so" anybody that knows me would know this is enough for me to never want to use it anyway. I remember having to write every paper in cursive in the 4th grade and that was the grade where they tought you about writing papers so there was a paper due just about every week and i hated it as it took me forever and the teacher would complain she couldn't read it. well duh! I then remember going to live with my grandparents and they were shocked that i didn't have to write my papers in cursive in 5th grade so what did they do? made me write everything in cursive because "thats the way it was done in my day, and thats the way it should be." this a BS notion and one i hope never to pass on to my kids. anyway they would make me sit at the table afterschool and after home work for hours and make me practice writing in cursive and drawing continous circles to get used to the fluid motion of the writing....i never got any better and after i moved out of their house in the 7th grade i have never used cursive except to sign my name and i never ever will because there is no need for it and i wish i could get back days of my life wasted on it. Also i bet i cant print as fast or faster than 90% of people that write in cursive and it would be easier to decipher than 90% of peoples cursive as well. [rant/]

LOL!

Why don't you write another run-on paragraph about how stupid it was that they tried to teach you spelling, punctuation, sentence/paragrapth style & structure, etc.?

Too funny!

It seems that cursive writing wasn't the only thing that you thought was stupid in school.

(It's not too late !)
http://www.whitesmoke.com/landing_flash/writerLp4.html?d=45&a=209&r=5611

 

[The30YardSlant]

Teaching elementary kids how to write in cursive is the biggest waste of time this side of sensitivity training. The vast majority of people will never use it again outside of signing their name and most signatures are illegible anyway.

What we need to spend more time on is proper usage of the english language. Many public school graduates in this country can barely form coherent sentences and many more don't know the difference betwen "to" and "too", "their" and "there", etc.

 

[Rynie]

The only thing you need to be able to do in cursive is sign your name.

For real. I haven't used cursive since 3rd grade.

 

[rkell87]

LOL!

Why don't you write another run-on paragraph about how stupid it was that they tried to teach you spelling, punctuation, sentence/paragrapth style & structure, etc.?

Too funny!

It seems that cursive writing wasn't the only thing that you thought was stupid in school.

(It's not too late !)
http://www.whitesmoke.com/landing_flash/writerLp4.html?d=45&a=209&r=5611

yeah i thought people like you were stupid in school too, sorry my message board rant didn't live up to your essay format standards you typicaly expect to see on these things.

 

[rkell87]

You were asking your teachers questions like that in 3rd grade? If not for cursive, you probably would have been a mindless vessel well into your college years.

So as it turns out, cursive IS useful afterall. I completely reverse my position, cursive should be taught at all schools!

lol i was always like that, my mother told me never be afraid to ask questions if you do not understand something, then every teacher i had would say there are no stupid questions but that wouldn't stop them from rolling their eyes or ignoring me when my hand would go up ten times a day:laugh2:

 

[jimmy40]

I haven't parallel parked since I took my driver's test, do they still make kids do that? as for writing I always used a mixture of cursive and print.

 

[ethiostar]

I've been meaning to post this video clip for a while but i keep forgetting until today. I was just about to start a new thread and i came across this one and it seems relevant to the discussion here in a very broad sense.

There is a lot packed in this 11+ minutes clip. As someone who taught for about 8 years in college there is a lot i agree with here and some that i don't or i find some of it to be an over simplification. However, overall i find it very interesting.

[youtube]zDZFcDGpL4U[/youtube]