Archives & Readers' Guides > Talking Heads ~ Curious Minds ~ Op/Ed
Talking Heads ~ Cursive Writing
BooksAdmin:
Talking Heads
"It occurred to me that nothing is more interesting than opinion when opinion is interesting..."
Herbert Bayard Swope, creator of the Op-Ed page.
A two week forum for opinions on anything in print: magazines, newspaper articles, online: bring your ideas and let's discuss.
First up: Is Cursive Writing Dead?
Recently in the Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, the Washington Post and Newsweek a debate has arisen concerning the teaching of Cursive Writing.
Here is the original article in the Christian Science Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1114/p13s01-legn.html?s=hns
Do we need to teach or use cursive writing any more? Is penmanship dead? What's the Palmer Method?
What's YOUR opinion? Read the short article and then weigh in!
How's YOUR handwriting?
Discussion Leader: Ginny
ginny:
Welcome to our newest discussion, which will address topics in print, in the news, magazines, online, anywhere we can put a link to it, and will be sort of an informal round table discussion of that issue.
When we have finished this one, we'll take suggestions for the next one, perhaps you've read an article you'd like to submit for our interest to hear what we have to say about it? When we get through with this one, bring it here and we'll choose which we'd like to talk about next. We might even try a poll, this is a new site and we can do what we want!
First up: cursive handwriting. Please read the short article linked at the top of the page. What are your thoughts on this?
Hows YOUR handwriting? When's the last time you got a letter written in hand or wrote one? Is the computer destroying our ability to write (and do math?) Did you know some schools have stopped teaching the multiplication tables reasoning calculators can do the job?
ARE machines taking over our lives?
Is this good or bad?
What do you think? We'd love to know.
ginny:
THAT is a good article. What do they mean "with only 15 percent of adults using cursive after high school. "
What are the rest of adults doing?
jane:
I think a lot of people use a variation on block print. In some schools I understand that cursive as we knew it in school is no longer taught at all. Again, a variation/modification of block print is used. It's what the kids see in books and so why not write that way as well?
Actually makes sense to me rather than slave over how to make an F in cursive or some of those other letters that were a trial.
jane
ginny:
Really!! And here they castigated my sons for using block print! (They both turned out to be engineers who not only use block print but I've heard block print on en engineering blueprint (when they used to make them by hand) was one of the hardest things to do well, good block print).
How about the Q? I have never understood why a cursive Q should look like a 2.
They do say that (not in this article but it's all over the news media) you tend to use whatever cursive you were taught, as a child, that you don't waver from it. Apparently you just drop it. Is block printing fast?
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version