Is Cursive Obsolete? - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

elchivito · #16 08-08-2011, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

I think that I was told the forms that require a human signature are govt forms. DOJ being one of them. What a surprise. So yes, I think writing is going to become little more than a novelty. Much like a girl that can take a cherry and tie the stem with her tongue.

Have you by chance been watching Twin Peaks? Audrey made me all tingly feeling.

elchivito · #17 08-08-2011, 08:58 PM

Keyboarding skills are best taught in grade school. Kids in the 5th and 6th grade are using computers to compose, edit and print both creative writing and research papers. I required at least one significant typed project per quarter from my 6th graders, and more from the junior high kids. Freshmen who enter with weak keyboarding skills are at a distinct disadvantage academically. If you'd ever watched an 8th grader spend literally hours getting a 2 page paper formatted, typed and printed you'd know what I mean. Like it or not, handwritten work beyond elementary school is soon to be a thing of the past. At the school my son just graduated from, handwritten papers are automatically demoted 1 full grade. This is becoming the norm. If not in elementary school, when should they learn?

Dee8go · #18 08-08-2011, 10:14 PM

I write in cursive with a fountain pen all the time.

I'm "Old School" and lovin' it!

Skippy · #19 08-08-2011, 11:23 PM

This summer I took a class at the local college and still used cursive for note taking sometimes. Other than that I rarely use it except to sign my name. I think if it were omitted from the school curriculum we would be okay without it.

I agree with teaching keyboarding skills earlier than we did in the past. I first took keyboarding in 9th grade (graduated 1996) and it wasn't actually a requirement for graduation, just recommended. I see a lot of job ads that include the requirement to type 40 wpm, and I think this is a reasonable requirement for many positions. On my last deployment we had a license examiner (lots of typing involved in that position) who typed about 2-3 (seriously) wpm. He didn't make a lot of progress and eventually ended up getting fired. BTW, I was up to 36 in one semester of keyboarding and am considerably faster now.

strelnik · #20 08-09-2011, 04:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTI

Not cursing . . .

Cursive Writing No Longer a Requirement, Optional

For many years, a controversy brewed in public and educational circles about the wisdom of teaching cursive writing in schools.

There is no alphabet per se in Arabic, ONLY cursive letters.
Each letter has three forms: for the beginning, middle and end of a word.

You can't "block print" in Arabic or in Farsi, because they don't have block printing.

If we do decide to forego cursive writing, then at least train children to block print in capitals.

When my son writes a note, it looks like he is still in 3rd grade, even though he is in college.

Rob Pruijt · #21 08-09-2011, 08:37 AM

I’m from the pen and ink bottle generation.

I had to write with my right hand, not very easy when you are very left handed.
When I was 12 I got my first ballpoint and changed to left had writing.

As an result I can write rather neat but very slow (cursive) with my right hand and fast but bad with my left hand.

It is very important that children learn and practice writing when they are young, not just use a keyboard.

Rob

kip Foss · #22 08-10-2011, 02:26 AM

My son is 27 and writes like a second grader because they didn't teach cursive writing.

aklim · #23 08-10-2011, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kip Foss

My son is 27 and writes like a second grader because they didn't teach cursive writing.

Why does it matter? His writing is legible and he can fill up the forms he needs to in life. Does it really matter that he cannot write cursive?

MS Fowler · #24 08-10-2011, 10:37 AM

Time for some psychological evaluations--feel free....
When I use pen/pencil and paper to make notes, which is often, I find that I interchange cursive with printing within the same note, sometimes within the same sentence.
What does it mean?
Have fun!

aklim · #25 08-10-2011, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

Time for some psychological evaluations--feel free....
When I use pen/pencil and paper to make notes, which is often, I find that I interchange cursive with printing within the same note, sometimes within the same sentence.
What does it mean?
Have fun!

It means you need to be under my care. I charge $100 per hour, CASH. How long till you get done? Dunno.

S124300 · #26 08-10-2011, 11:06 AM

Cursive writing?
'Joined up writing' was a major part of junior school education when I was there - in GB and Fr.
Neat handwriting is important in professional environments.

Rob Pruijt · #27 08-10-2011, 11:06 AM

As a psychologist I give it a try.

When writing cursive (if you learned it properly and practise it a lot) you write more or less automatically complete words, with printing you write letters.
If you change from cursive to printing it may that you encountered a word you are not used to write. It is also possible that you concentration is a little bit less when you write printing. Forcing to write letters may help to make sure that what you are writing is what you are supposed to.

Writing in print also leaves less room for errors when reading back

Rob.

strelnik · #28 08-10-2011, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by S124300

Cursive writing?
'Joined up writing' was a major part of junior school education when I was there - in GB and Fr.
Neat handwriting is important in professional environments.

This is very true.

Example: I learned Russian mostly as an adult, including cursive Russian, and it is difficult to read cursive that is not neat in a foreign language, much less in one which you have more or less mastered to the point of comfort.

That's why I write slowly in Russian but itake pains to make sure t is extremely neat and legible. Russians as a group tend to write a mix of cursive and block print in signs and even in informal correspondence. Go figure. what a mess to try to understand.

The Clk Man · #29 08-10-2011, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

Why does it matter? His writing is legible and he can fill up the forms he needs to in life. Does it really matter that he cannot write cursive?

You can't write in cursive, can you.

elchivito · #30 08-10-2011, 01:00 PM

My handwriting has always mixed cursive and printing. Not only within sentences but often within the same word. Years ago when writing on the board for my students I used to struggle to have the sort of teacherly penmanship that most teachers have. I finally gave up. Each year at least one of my kids would comment "you don't write like a teacher".
I read somewhere once that mixing print and cursive is a sign of an "unstable" personality. Stability is overrated.