The hive is at it again...handwriting!

[Tony]

The hive is at it again...Indiana and now 46 states in America opt for keyboards over pens in schools!


US state opts for keyboards over pens in schools
Written by bee-it newsdesk  
Monday, 11 July 2011 14:38


Article.
 
Pupils in the US state of Indiana will no longer be required to learn joined-up, or cursive, writing.
 
As local news source the Indianapolis Star reports, Indiana joins a growing list of states that no longer require schools to teach cursive writing. Instead, education officials say that keyboards, emails and texts are more useful in the modern employment world and, as such, they will mandate all Indiana schools to start teaching basic typing skills to pupils from primary school age.
 
Denna Renbarger, an education official in Lawrence Township, Indiana, commented:
 
“I think it's progressive of our state to be ahead on this. There are a lot more important things than cursive writing.”
 
The move is part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, an effort led by governors in 46 states which aims to ensure consistency in US education. The Common Core curriculum was released in June 2010 and has been adopted by nearly all US states, although there is no requirement for them to do so. Cursive writing does not form part of the Common Core curriculum, although typing using a keyboard does and children aged around 11 years old will be expected to ‘demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting’.
 

Education officials say keyboard skills are more useful in the modern world
 
However, not all parents and educators are onboard with the transition away from cursive writing in favour of typing with keyboards. Jerry Long, the parent of an 11 year old daughter, said:
 
“I think they should have the opportunity to learn all the skills they will need. How are they supposed to know how to sign their names?”
 
Ms LaPorte, a retired teacher-turned calligrapher, echoes this sentiment and believes that cursive writing is not merely an art but a practical skill that can and should be taught by schools, even if not required by the state.
 
However, Education Professor Steve Graham, a nationally recognised expert on handwriting, suggests that some of the arguments for cursive are ‘romantic’. Nonetheless, he does concede that schools have a lot to consider before they cut the amount of instructional time given for handwriting or drop cursive writing altogether, maintaining that “you need to be fluent and legible with at least one type of handwriting and you need to be fluent on the keyboard”.
 
Responding to the mixed reactions to the controversial move, Indiana officials have been keen to stress that the standards are not exhaustive and that teachers could continue teaching handwriting if they chose.

And another article...

Who still writes in cursive?
That age-old writing method you might never have used since fourth grade will no longer be taught in Indiana schools come fall, thanks to a memo from school officials. Instead, students will be expected to become proficient in keyboard use.
Seems like a smart move as being able to type efficiently is a vital skill in today’s world, as opposed to knowing how to write cursive, which — like being able to churn butter and knowing how to hitch a horse to a wagon — is no longer needed.
(LISTS: Top 10 Things Today’s Kids Will Never Experience)
But it might not mean the end of cursive entirely in the state. The directive from the state’s Department of Education allows schools to decide for themselves whether to continue teaching cursive or disband the archaic practice altogether.

(The consequences for destroying communication and self confidence is tremendous.)
 

[Russ1959]

The spoken word will be censored next.... :(

[crosby]

the stripping of one more piece of our individuality.
regards, corson

[Tony]

Of course the next step will be...no to key boards....yes, to voice recognition!
Voice turned digital...then whose voice is it?

[Flash]

Of course the next step will be...no to key boards....yes, to voice recognition!
Voice turned digital...then whose voice is it?

this is terrible. Hand writing is a fine motor skill and, as knitting does, it develop parts of the brain related to fine motor skills as well as hand/eye coordination.

One of the first thing being noticed in children with motor skills problems is their ability to hand write. One of the first thing used to correct it is hand writing.

The written text will be gone soon, technology is there already with voice recognition and continuous taping of conversations (in call centers for example). Memory wipe out will be easy, collective memory and personal as well.

And let me laugh at being able to type efficiently, they do it at 3 years old right now, no need for learning this very easy skill.

[Tony]

The problem is, that they manipulate like playing chess. There are a lot of background move, then 18 month or three years later, they achieve what they wanted....steps for the next move!!!! It is so insidious and evil.

They must have teams working on all this 24 hours a day.

[Lost Soul]

Learning cursive is necessary for anyone who reads old documents like The Declaration of Independence.

[Carmody]

Writing.... is essential.

Electricity is something that few know how to master.

This makes the thing they 'communicate with', the keyboard and computer..it makes them like 'magic' to the user of such. Therefore, within their capacity to communicate, to use a keyboard... they have a disconnected and easy to stop or block 'magical unknown(s)'. Many of them, all piled precariously on top of one another.

Whereas before, they had their hands and they knew how to use them. Writing is not archaic, it is essential.

[Tony]

They want machine operators, or rather bio-elements in the machine!
I am off the scale..of angry!!!!


enu38MLipYg


This is part of dumbing down!!! People will just get lazier.....!???

[Flash]

Writing.... is essential.

Electricity is something that few know how to master.

This makes the thing they 'communicate with', the keyboard and computer..it makes them like 'magic' to the user of such. Therefore, within their capacity to communicate, to use a keyboard... they have a disconnected and easy to stop or block 'magical unknown(s)'. Many of them, all piled precariously on top of one another.

Whereas before, they had their hands and they knew how to use them. Writing is not archaic, it is essential.

From all sides it is essential. And yes, computer are the magic part, easy to block and disconnecting the brain from its creativity.

When I write and want to be creative, I use cursive writing (therefore I am not much creative right now). the use of the body with the brain and the heart are essential when writing .

God, what are we going to do. Florida stopped the compulsory courses in History and Geography in high school, drugs were introduced in schools, bullying is much on the rise in schools, and now cursive writing gone.

This is going very very fast, the inplementation of total control.


Edited: about the video: those are nut women, promoting typîng over cursive. They have no clue about the nervous system and the impact of handwriting on it (the electricity mastering as Carmody says so well). As for typing, my fine and gross motor skills problematic child learned typing by herself with no problems. TYPING IS NOT A SKILL, MONKEYS DO IT. It is cursive writing that helped her to correct the fine motor skills (electricity usage by the body).

[Sidney]

Schools priorities have always been ubside down. In our area, sports takes priority over scholastics. They have no school counselor, no music, and no help for special needs, but there is an unbelievable number of extracurricular activities.

[Tarka the Duck]

Don't get me started! Ooooops....too late.... ;)

And talk about synchronicity – I am acting as a critical friend for someone who is currently doing a degree in Childhood Studies, and have just proof read and critiqued her latest essay, which attempted to answer: “If the traditional skill of handwriting disappears from our primary schools in the light of rapidly advancing technology – will it matter?”

I won't elaborate on any of these points: this is just a list of issues that have come to mind as seeming to be relevant to this subject (I'm in no way an expert, but I have spent some years working as a primary school teacher, and have written a few books encouraging teachers to develop a more creative curriculum).


There has been extensive research into – as Flash pointed out – the actual physical act of handwriting and the effect that this has on learners and their learning - much of it neurological, biophysical or evolutionary biological based. The skill of handwriting is in itself a tool for learning and not simply a standalone skill or a ‘discipline’.

There is, as yet, very little research into whether digital stimuli can change the architecture of the brain: as yet, we know little about the effect on digital technology on the developing brain of a young child.

Handwriting and reading are closely connected in so many ways. Handwriting exercises have a significant effect on the ability of children: research has shown that children who learnt letters through handwriting (in all its forms) had a far more efficient recall than those who had used a keyboard. The physical act of writing letters and words has a neurological effect on the brain's pathways.

The retention of information when it has been handwritten exceeds that which was typewritten.

Children have many learning styles: how will the needs of a tactile learner be met by a keyboard? Such a child would learn handwriting through physical and sensory games such as writing letters on a table smeared with shaving foam or sand. That wouldn't half make a mess of the keyboard...

On an emotional level, we perceive handwritten letters and typewritten letters completely differently. The first looks “natural” and has “character” and “feeling”. The second is “impersonal” and “sterile”. Each has its place.

It's yet another "aesthetic, tactile and creative" skill that children may be denied access to. If you consider fine motor creative activities such as drawing, knitting, embroidery etc to be beneficial and pleasurable in any way, to deny people access could have serious consequence to people's sense of wellbeing. To sit down with a beautiful piece of hand made paper and a calligraphy pen…heaven! Many people don't "create" anything any more…bit of a soapbox of mine…!

Writing by hand is a totally different experience from writing by hand: each has their place, and neither should exclude the other. When I write notes, for example, I often include doodles and mind maps and diagrams to illustrate what I need to remember (so activating the right side of the brain). Can't do that on a keyboard...

Typing may be faster, but at what cost to the content? Many authors of fiction and poets choose to write by hand as they say it gives them time to reflect, to elaborate, to make decisions as they write.\

Digital apparatus is self correcting – that affects the grasp of spelling and grammar and makes us lazy.

In the UK, representational drawing skills are no longer taught to any level of accomplishment in state-run educational institutions. I started a thread about this...http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?37542-Guess-who-s-the-new-Professor-of-Drawing-at-the-Royal-Academy-of-Art&p=391222&highlight=guess+professor#post391222
It seems people will be completely incapable of making any sort of controlled mark on a piece of paper within a generation... Many adults are excruciatingly embarrassed by their drawing ability - “I draw like a 5 year old” - it seems they are destined to feel the same way about their handwriting.

Keyboards will soon be obsolete...voice recognition software is the way ahead.


The thing that really really concerns me is that people's choice is being removed.
In UK state-run art schools, you can't choose to learn to draw following the methods of Michelangelo or Raphael.
To bring that skill back into society will take an enormous amount of effort and time.

Once the skill of handwriting and calligraphy has gone, it will be very very hard to turn back time to bring it back.

The new needs to be integrated – but not at the expense of the proven value of the old.

Do they really understand what they are throwing away? Perhaps they understand all too well...

Kathie

[Alekahn]

This arouses my activist spirit! I could write a research paper on this topic (I will spare you). As a former Waldorf grades teacher, I share in your healthy anger/disgust pie'neal. I echo all of the concerns posted here regarding this absolutely vital skill, yet I am in no way surprised at this. It is yet another step in the "dumbing down" of our children and youth. Actually, an impetus for me to formally (re)join Avalon was to begin some discourse on the alternative education of our children, during and after this shift of our paradigm...the children of the new Earth.

As a suggestion to any interested in education and how it got to be this sad way, look into a book written by John Taylor Gatto (former NY state teacher of the year) entitled, "The Underground History of American Education". It can be found online for free and it WILL piss you off. Lest we think that "conspiracy" doesn't extend into the arena of the education of our children, think again. There has been a dark agenda (the "Fourth Purpose") in place for quite some time now around this...and can be traced back to the Prussian model of compulsory, mass forced schooling. I am still digesting this material.

Is there any interest on this forum to begin more active threads on new modes of educating children?

[Isthatso]

Is there any interest on this forum to begin more active threads on new modes of educating children?

Yes, I would love to delve into this area also...

Warm wishes,
Lee

[Little Ishta]

Cursive writing is important no matter what they say! Ooooh how they love to control! This gets me very upset and angry. Writing is an art. I found an interesting link and wanted to share with you on what they had to say.
http://www.iluvitar.com/archives/158

[TargeT]

They want machine operators, or rather bio-elements in the machine!
I am off the scale..of angry!!!!


enu38MLipYg

This is part of dumbing down!!! People will just get lazier.....!???

I'm 32, I'm the last vistage of Generation X, I was barely born in the 70s...

I can assure you this is not the case, I can type around 120 WPM (with terrible accuracy) and have vastly expanded my writing as it became less arduous (though my spelling never improved... haha).

My only worry about a move like this is the vulnerability it introduces,, the dependancy of written communicatioin on an external device that cannot be attained or made easily.

This sets us up for an alantean fall, I mean really, how many readers on this forum understand the intricacies of the internal combustion engine, its a super simple concept. what about a transistor? I know I couldn't make either, I'm not even too sure I could make steel, much less a baring to with in a .001 tolerance.

how about using a quarts crystal for time, anyone know how todo that?

We are so far removed from what we depend on that it wouldn't take as much as you'd think to knock us back 200 years...

so dumbing down no (IMO): further dependancy.. very possible...

[Flash]

They want machine operators, or rather bio-elements in the machine!
I am off the scale..of angry!!!!


enu38MLipYg

This is part of dumbing down!!! People will just get lazier.....!???

I'm 32, I'm the last vistage of Generation X, I was barely born in the 70s...

I can assure you this is not the case, I can type around 120 WPM (with terrible accuracy) and have vastly expanded my writing as it became less arduous (though my spelling never improved... haha).

My only worry about a move like this is the vulnerability it introduces,, the dependancy of written communicatioin on an external device that cannot be attained or made easily.

This sets us up for an alantean fall, I mean really, how many readers on this forum understand the intricacies of the internal combustion engine, its a super simple concept. what about a transistor? I know I couldn't make either, I'm not even too sure I could make steel, much less a baring to with in a .001 tolerance.

how about using a quarts crystal for time, anyone know how todo that?

We are so far removed from what we depend on that it wouldn't take as much as you'd think to knock us back 200 years...

so dumbing down no (IMO): further dependancy.. very possible...

I do both, type at at least 120wpm and write cursive. My thinking and reflection is not the same if I use cursive or typing. there is a real difference.

And your comments do not take into account what cursive writing does to the brain in terms of neves connectivity, hand/eye coordination, etc.

Cursive writing does not take away typing skills that are easily shared with chimpanzes as well, but knowing only how to type does take away something to the human being.

[TargeT]

I wouldn't presume to say on one hand wiggling stick with led in it over a piece of tree is anymore benifical to the mind than wiggling your fingers over a block of petrochemical products.. I do like cursive as an art, but it is NOT taught as an art or expression. it was an painful class that was quite frankly a little predudice against individuals with less fine motor skill..

For example I have difficulty reading my own hand writing and cannot draw a stick figure or strait line.. haha are you now saying that I am in someway less than you because the vehicle im piloting is different than yours?

We know there is no formula to humanity, there's no such thing as "one size fits all".

I guess I can't really comment too much on this thread because at the root of it, you are talking about the education system... the one I went through... why are we worried that they wont open the window in the back of the bus when the front is on fire?


Education should be about finding the passion in someone and fostering it, not forcing them to write a loopy capital L....
we need to get away from this production line mentality, lets go for the buffet mentality!

this of course has to be coupled with a MUCH EARLIER sense of personal responsability... forcing young adults to be children untill 18 is rediculous... Romeo and Juliet were what.. 14 and 15?

How old was alexander the great at his first victory... think about it.....

[Rantaak]

Gosh, you would think that since the school system is already so good at taking away our kids and indoctrinating them into post-traumatic-stress-disorder while predisposing them to believe that learning is stupid and that the path of least resistance (following the status quo) is the easiest, and therefore the most "cool", that we wouldn't need anymore significant reforms such as this one.

Oh and let's not forget how all schools indoctrinate us into the false belief that regurgitation is equivalent to knowledge and therefore intellect. They do this in every subject, even in music.

The ability to puke forth memorized language does not correlate to integration.

Cuneiform or bust!

[music]

How are they supposed to know how to sign their names?

Moot point, all with have chip implants for ID purposes.

[Ineffable Hitchhiker]

UGH! :angry:


What about THESE children, who will never have access to a computer !!!


http://i44.tinypic.com/23uvhhx.jpg
source (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/photo-contest/2011/entries/84884/view/)






Never mind how many WPM you can type, the fact that children are being "encouraged" to be stuck behind a pc, is unconscionable!