Anyone Else Consider This an Epic Fail? - Page 2 - GoFuckYourself.com

John-ACWM · 08-14-2013, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

My daughter wanted to learn it so she taught it to her self with one of those cheap workbooks

That is very good since some schools have such a poor system.

woj · 08-14-2013, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trend

That isn't how it works & I would contend that penmanship isn't an obsolete skill .. as evidenced by the fact that the very school who cut it is asking for it.

Worse .. they are not teaching more of the other skills. What they do is teach down to the lowest denominator. The truth is that now:

Regular Classes = Borderline special education

AP Classes = The former regular classes.

You might be right, but declining level of education has nothing to do with whether they teach cursive writing or not... Fact is they have budget constraints, constraints on how skilled and motivated teachers are, etc and they do the best they can with it...

it's not like someone just decided lets not teach cursive anymore so we can teach kids how to play video games instead...

Sly · 08-14-2013, 08:02 AM

Will it be funny or sad in 50 years when it takes a specialist to read an old document because nobody can read the old language of English cursive?

kane · 08-14-2013, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSquealer

The problem with this is not that they stopped doing it... the problem is that the fact that they stopped doing it and they weren't smart enough to say what they would replace it with. Instead they let it become a negative PR scandal instead of saying "instead of cursive, we are going to emphasize [more important life skill here]"

Humans do not respond well to "taking away" and "loss". It's a basic primal, feast or famine type instinctive reaction ingrained in our DNA.

That said, i think they should keep teaching the same things as always. Learning and education is not about what you can apply in life.. if that was the case, they'd be teaching, "bagging groceries" and "shovel handling 101" all through high school. There should be standards and the standards should be high. Not continually lowered.

They likely could have handled it better. Many schools around the country no longer teach cursive, but this is the one, for whatever reason, that we hear about.

Personally, I would rather they teach kids how to play music that write cursive. It still teaches motor skills, hand eye coordination, problem solving etc and it is show that music stimulates the brain. From grade 4-6 twice per week we had music class. I learned to play the recorder (which annoyed the hell out of my mom) and learned a few other basic notes on a few basic instruments and we were able to write our own compositions.

Like you say, people often don't respond well when things are "taken away." Many people say they want change, but really they don't want change. Many people have the attitude of "It was good enough for me" so it must be okay. When things change some people get scared and immediately assume it is for the worst.

2MuchMark · 08-14-2013, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trend

I was just baffled by this one.

Four years ago we were notified by the school system that they would no longer be teaching the kids cursive writing. I went to the school board meetings, PTA etc and voiced my concerns. They listened but blew me off.

Today my son and daughter come home and they have these "contracts" with the school covering everything from policies on bullying to dress codes etc. The instruction clearly say the child must SIGN their name. It actually says Do Not Print.

So neither of my kids know how to sign their names which was precisely my issue with the school's policy.

I called the school and asked... How are the kids supposed to sign their names when you are no longer teaching them cursive?

The answer: " Oh .. ummm... that's a good question"

Any chance you're from Texas?

Ace of Spades · 08-14-2013, 02:08 PM

People wonder why I don't want or have kids, this is a perfect example!

08-14-2013, 08:02 AM	#53
Sly Let's do some business! Industry Role: Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 31,327	Will it be funny or sad in 50 years when it takes a specialist to read an old document because nobody can read the old language of English cursive? __________________ Vacares - Web Hosting, Domains, O365, Security & More - Paxum and BTC Accepted Windows VPS now available Great for TSS, Nifty Stats, remote work, virtual assistants, etc. Click here for more details.

08-14-2013, 02:08 PM	#56
Ace of Spades Confirmed User Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Closer than you think! Posts: 472	People wonder why I don't want or have kids, this is a perfect example! __________________ Do people really click sigs?