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Post by cadoodlebug on Nov 19, 2015 22:22:32 GMT
We were at Bunco this morning and were having a conversation about the lack of teaching cursive any longer. One woman said she has a friend whose daughter went on a job interview and they couldn't hire her because she couldn't read cursive. Obviously there are some jobs out there where it is a needed skill.
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Dalai Mama
Drama Llama
La Pea Boheme
Posts: 6,985
Jun 26, 2014 0:31:31 GMT
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Post by Dalai Mama on Nov 19, 2015 22:25:30 GMT
An archivist? The overwhelming majority of jobs don't require it and, really, [/i]reading[/i] cursive is a skill that can be picked up in a couple of hours.
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Post by ljs1691 on Nov 19, 2015 22:31:34 GMT
I wondered how long it would be before this exact thing started to happen. Thankfully, mine have all been taught at school. I think it is up to the individual teachers. Sucks when one of the teachers decides it isn't worth it and the following grade the teacher expects them to have learned it.
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Peal
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Jun 25, 2014 22:45:40 GMT
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Post by Peal on Nov 19, 2015 22:32:20 GMT
My youngest two are being taught cursive specifically to help with their penmanship. One is dyslexic and writing is extremely difficult for him, the thinking is if he doesn't need to lift his pencil it's easier for the brain to hand connection to write words out. It helps a little but not much. He can read it though. As well as he can read anything.
My other is just a lazy writer. His penmanship is atrocious because he speeds through his work. The teachers hope this will help him write quickly but legibly. I'm dubious. He just can't be made to care. No matter how many times I make him rewrite his work so I can read it.
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Post by bc2ca on Nov 19, 2015 22:34:28 GMT
I'm curious how old the daughter is and what the job was that she needed to be able read cursive.
My DD(18) really struggled with cursive, but it was still being taught when she went through elementary school. Other than reading handwritten notes in cards, I can't think of an occassion she has needed that skill.
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Post by peasapie on Nov 19, 2015 22:34:54 GMT
I just cannot understand why script isn't being taught. I get that it won't be used as much as it once was, but I still think it's a useful tool to have in one's arsenal. And as a former primary teacher, I remember how much kids loved learning it. They felt grown up and proud.
I remember when I was in high school and the administration didn't think it was important to learn to type unless you were going to be a secretary. I'm very glad I took an extra class on that because I've used it my entire life. And sewing too, come to think of it.
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Post by maryland on Nov 19, 2015 22:38:47 GMT
I wondered how long it would be before this exact thing started to happen. Thankfully, mine have all been taught at school. I think it is up to the individual teachers. Sucks when one of the teachers decides it isn't worth it and the following grade the teacher expects them to have learned it. My kids are 12-18 and they learned to read/write in cursive. But they do have trouble telling time on a clock that isn't digital!
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gsquaredmom
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Jun 26, 2014 17:43:22 GMT
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Post by gsquaredmom on Nov 19, 2015 22:40:07 GMT
Lots of teachers want to teach it. Many districts dropped it in favor of things that are tested.
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Post by monklady123 on Nov 19, 2015 22:39:49 GMT
I just cannot understand why script isn't being taught. I get that it won't be used as much as it once was, but I still think it's a useful tool to have in one's arsenal. And as a former primary teacher, I remember how much kids loved learning it. They felt grown up and proud. I remember when I was in high school and the administration didn't think it was important to learn to type unless you were going to be a secretary. I'm very glad I took an extra class on that because I've used it my entire life. And sewing too, come to think of it. It is in my county -- they start toward the end of the year in 2nd grade, and then all year 3rd grade. Then in 4th and 5th they're required to write in cursive for journaling, etc., unless there's some sort of learning difficulty or IEP or whatever that says they don't have to. Both of my kids went through that same curriculum -- dd can read it and enjoys writing in it (except she can't read my mother's handwriting, but neither can I, at least not easily -- it's a foreign-born old-fashioned writing, and it takes effort to decipher, lol) Ds says he can't read it but I think he's just lazy since I know he learned it.
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Post by anxiousmom on Nov 19, 2015 22:41:44 GMT
I am a big fan of kids learning to write in cursive.
But I am a big fat dinosaur that thinks that there is nothing more lovely than a beautifully written (in cursive of course) letter. Both of which are not something that is valued much anymore.
Both of my kids marvel at my 'penmanship' - mostly due to the fact that theirs looks like chicken scratch. Both were taught in elementary school, but beyond that it wasn't emphasized. They both ended up in a tech school and in as far as I can tell, there is little that is handwritten anymore-it is all submitted on line which is typed.
Personally, and I know that my opinion on this is not the norm, but I think that writing in cursive is going to become a lost art and that greatly saddens me.
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Post by hop2 on Nov 19, 2015 22:43:15 GMT
That's going to be my silver career, you know the job you have to have when you retire. I'm going to be a script translator. I'll charge a tiny bit extra to translate it to emoji instead of typed english. maybe I'd better set up my website now. Both of mine were taught script or I would have taught them myself. ( Nearly 17 and. 18.5 years old).
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Post by cadoodlebug on Nov 19, 2015 22:43:38 GMT
I'm curious how old the daughter is and what the job was that she needed to be able read cursive. My DD(18) really struggled with cursive, but it was still being taught when she went through elementary school. Other than reading handwritten notes in cards, I can't think of an occassion she has needed that skill. I was getting ready to ask those 2 questions when someone got a bunco and the conversation was lost.
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Jili
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Jun 26, 2014 1:26:48 GMT
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Post by Jili on Nov 19, 2015 22:44:50 GMT
I just cannot understand why script isn't being taught. I get that it won't be used as much as it once was, but I still think it's a useful tool to have in one's arsenal. I agree with you--but there are many reasons it isn't taught anymore. There's such an enormous pressure on educators these days to cram in the Common Core standards so that the PARCC and Smarter Balanced assessment scores look good (though we have yet to actually see a score...). Then there are other subjects that just keep getting added in. In our district, it's foreign language at the elementary level (district decision), and the State has mandated Social Emotional Learning curriculum. Along with the usual English Language Arts, Math, Social Studies/Science, PE, and Fine Arts, there just isn't much time anymore.
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Dalai Mama
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Jun 26, 2014 0:31:31 GMT
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Post by Dalai Mama on Nov 19, 2015 22:44:50 GMT
I'm curious how old the daughter is and what the job was that she needed to be able read cursive. My DD(18) really struggled with cursive, but it was still being taught when she went through elementary school. Other than reading handwritten notes in cards, I can't think of an occassion she has needed that skill. I was getting ready to ask those 2 questions when someone got a bunco and the conversation was lost.
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Post by littlemama on Nov 19, 2015 22:46:08 GMT
My ds is a senior in high school. Students in our schools are taught how to make the letters so they can sign their names. They never practice it or use it any further. That is why ds' signature looks like a third grader did it.
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Post by ~Sherri~ on Nov 19, 2015 22:48:42 GMT
I love to write in cursive. It is faster and easier for me. I often get compliments on my handwriting. I had teachers that were sticklers for good penmanship and would make you re-do messy papers. I am still influenced by them today. I also love calligraphy and wonder if it will become a lost art as well.
Unfortunately my DD's, DGS and DGD take after their daddy/papaw. They all write worse than chicken scratch. LOL!!
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Post by 950nancy on Nov 19, 2015 22:51:22 GMT
Cursive has been in and out of the curriculum for years. I am sure things vary district to district. It is definitely a struggle for teachers everywhere to decide what is important beyond the mandatory curriculum/standards. There is bully proofing, technology, cursive, personal safety, public speaking, and the list goes on and on. There is very little time in the classroom that isn't already spoken for with standards and standardized testing for the district, state, and national levels. With the way technology itself has changed just in just this century, priorities have changed from handwriting to communicating with the current technology that is changing a very fast pace. Now the most current emergencies are school safety and violence in the schools. As our society changes, our time has been refocused in the classroom. Yes, handwriting and cursive have been priorities in the past, but I see the importance of these subjects dropping down the list as new and arguably more important subjects take priority. I think most teachers would love to teach it, but other topics of a higher priority have taken their places. Whenever possible, I wrote out directions in cursive so that kids were seeing daily, but I wasn't taking fifteen minutes a day to teach it.
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Post by moveablefeast on Nov 19, 2015 22:52:16 GMT
This baffles me. Reading is more than deciphering the individual shapes of letters. If you can pick up some of the clues - like letters that are easy to recognize in cursive - you can decipher it. Maybe not as simply as all that - but it's not like cursive is suddenly some obscure Asian script. My 7yo hasn't had one second of cursive instruction yet - and won't in public school - and can decipher most cursive when she comes across it. She can even decipher my notoriously terrible chicken scratch. Which is way harder than deciphering some nice tidy cursive writing
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Post by crazy4scraps on Nov 19, 2015 22:52:29 GMT
I don't think they teach it anymore at DD's elementary so I will teach it to her myself in a few years. She's in kindergarten right now and REALLY wants to learn it. I have to keep telling her to practice her printing because that's what her teachers want her to learn to do really well right now. ETA: DD's printing right now is more legible than her 12 year old cousin's... And his mom is a teacher!
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Post by Sparki on Nov 19, 2015 23:12:51 GMT
As a business owner, I require my employees to be able to read and write cursive. Part of the job is writing nice script notes to customers. And no, I will not accept nicely printed - it has to be script.
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Nicole in TX
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Jun 26, 2014 2:00:21 GMT
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Post by Nicole in TX on Nov 19, 2015 23:17:04 GMT
I just cannot understand why script isn't being taught. I get that it won't be used as much as it once was, but I still think it's a useful tool to have in one's arsenal. I agree with you--but there are many reasons it isn't taught anymore. There's such an enormous pressure on educators these days to cram in the Common Core standards so that the PARCC and Smarter Balanced assessment scores look good (though we have yet to actually see a score...). Then there are other subjects that just keep getting added in. In our district, it's foreign language at the elementary level (district decision), and the State has mandated Social Emotional Learning curriculum. Along with the usual English Language Arts, Math, Social Studies/Science, PE, and Fine Arts, there just isn't much time anymore.
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keithurbanlovinpea
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Flowing with the go...
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Jun 29, 2014 3:29:30 GMT
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Post by keithurbanlovinpea on Nov 19, 2015 23:18:20 GMT
I wondered how long it would be before this exact thing started to happen. Thankfully, mine have all been taught at school. I think it is up to the individual teachers. Sucks when one of the teachers decides it isn't worth it and the following grade the teacher expects them to have learned it. My kids are 12-18 and they learned to read/write in cursive. But they do have trouble telling time on a clock that isn't digital! Mine are 13 and almost 17 but I can say the same about them. LOL
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MsKnit
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Jun 26, 2014 19:06:42 GMT
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Post by MsKnit on Nov 19, 2015 23:23:23 GMT
I just cannot understand why script isn't being taught. I get that it won't be used as much as it once was, but I still think it's a useful tool to have in one's arsenal. And as a former primary teacher, I remember how much kids loved learning it. They felt grown up and proud. Why won't it get used as much? 4 years of college note taking should be reason enough. Cursive is much quicker than printing.
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Post by Sassy Sabrina SWZ on Nov 19, 2015 23:27:27 GMT
In genealogical research, we are always deciphering the script on old documents. If you weren't familiar with how to make the strokes for each letter, it would be even harder. We are going to lose the next generation of genealogists!
I guess I'm a dinosaur, too, but cursive writing is so much faster and easier than printing. I never print unless I'm forced to print my name next to my signature. I'm sorry that the kids of the future will not have that "basic" skill available to them.
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Post by anxiousmom on Nov 19, 2015 23:28:02 GMT
I just cannot understand why script isn't being taught. I get that it won't be used as much as it once was, but I still think it's a useful tool to have in one's arsenal. And as a former primary teacher, I remember how much kids loved learning it. They felt grown up and proud. Why won't it get used as much? 4 years of college note taking should be reason enough. Cursive is much quicker than printing. Don't a lot of the kids take notes on their laptops/tablets these days? My oldest was in big trouble with his dad and for a while, he insisted that the boy take a picture each time he was in class. (Okay, not my idea, but since dad is the money man he calls the shots.) The boy would take a picture with his cell phone of his class rooms and every kid there had some kind of tablet or laptop set up to take notes with. But I am with you. Take notes by hand. The muscle movement involved in handwriting notes helps to cement the information.
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Post by bc2ca on Nov 19, 2015 23:42:31 GMT
I just cannot understand why script isn't being taught. I get that it won't be used as much as it once was, but I still think it's a useful tool to have in one's arsenal. And as a former primary teacher, I remember how much kids loved learning it. They felt grown up and proud. Why won't it get used as much? 4 years of college note taking should be reason enough. Cursive is much quicker than printing. More students at using some sort of electronic device for note taking and TBH, my note taking is definitely at best a hybrid between cursive and print, leaning much closer to print.
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MsKnit
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Post by MsKnit on Nov 19, 2015 23:42:15 GMT
Why won't it get used as much? 4 years of college note taking should be reason enough. Cursive is much quicker than printing. Don't a lot of the kids take notes on their laptops/tablets these days? My oldest was in big trouble with his dad and for a while, he insisted that the boy take a picture each time he was in class. (Okay, not my idea, but since dad is the money man he calls the shots.) The boy would take a picture with his cell phone of his class rooms and every kid there had some kind of tablet or laptop set up to take notes with. But I am with you. Take notes by hand. The muscle movement involved in handwriting notes helps to cement the information. I would have thought so too. At least here, across numerous classes I've seen 1 person using a laptop.
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Post by bc2ca on Nov 19, 2015 23:45:02 GMT
I'm curious how old the daughter is and what the job was that she needed to be able read cursive. My DD(18) really struggled with cursive, but it was still being taught when she went through elementary school. Other than reading handwritten notes in cards, I can't think of an occassion she has needed that skill. I was getting ready to ask those 2 questions when someone got a bunco and the conversation was lost. hahaha
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Post by moveablefeast on Nov 19, 2015 23:47:12 GMT
I just cannot understand why script isn't being taught. I get that it won't be used as much as it once was, but I still think it's a useful tool to have in one's arsenal. And as a former primary teacher, I remember how much kids loved learning it. They felt grown up and proud. Why won't it get used as much? 4 years of college note taking should be reason enough. Cursive is much quicker than printing. I don't think that is universally true. I think writing in your natural style is fastest for note taking - for many people I know, myself included, writing quickly means a hybrid of printing and script. For note taking, the real efficiency is in knowing how to take good notes quickly - developing your own shorthand. The fastest and most efficient way to do that is the way that makes most sense to you.
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Jili
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Post by Jili on Nov 20, 2015 0:01:09 GMT
My daughter uses a notetaking app on her iPad, and it is really cool to see how it can be used. She can photograph a worksheet or page in a book and note directly on it. She can make notes using a keyboard or stylus, and can add pictures, diagrams, and links into her notes. The flexibility of it is absolutely amazing.
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