<p>personally I don’t think it is a lost art</p>
<p>you could also say the same for knitting- which is making quite a “comeback”
I write much more with a keyboard than I ever would with a pencil or pen- and to me- that is the important part-
( great story mini)</p>
<p>As far as the computer, I was taught some touch typing in elementary school, but then I took a class in middle school for a semester (at the end of which I was typing about 30). My parents used to type things for me sometimes because they typed faster than me, but now I type way faster than they do (like 80/90 with a couple errors on the computer tests). One of my friends at school typed really slow (like 20) and he switched his keyboard to Dvorak and now he types like 40, though he can’t use any other keyboards. (If you’re not familiar with dvorak, it moves the vowels to the ‘asdfg’ positions on your normal keyboard and puts common other letters (like t/s/n) on the home keys for the right hand, so you can type a lot more words without moving fingers to other keys.)</p>
<p>ariesathena,</p>
<p>those are the same forms I learned from, and I agree with you. Like the upper case ‘F’… it’s like a non cursive ‘F’ with extra squiggly things on it. yuck.</p>
<p>I told my typing teacher that I wouldn’t type “properly” because it was slower. I type properly with one hand and with one finger on the right hand(except for backspace and space and that sort of thing.)</p>
<p>I beat her in a speed test and she relented. I type 80wpm without trying and 110+ when trying. Nearly perfect accuracy.</p>
<p>Handwriting, like all other elements of learning, has specific neurological underpinnings. Hence, like all other elements of learning it is false advertising to assume an ‘all or nothing’ approach.</p>
<p>Some kids learn best with phonological approaches to reading, some with whole words.</p>
<p>Some people write best in cursive, others in manuscript.</p>
<p>Others are just grateful for their secretaries, keyboards and voice-type software.</p>
<p>Any cultural or value affiliation with writing as an ‘art’ is quaint and irrelevant- or becoming increasingly so. The time used in an earlier era to learn to produce pretty written work is simply no longer available to teachers given other curricular demands. THe notion that it is good as it ‘disciplines’ children is interesting- but not valid. There are swarms of people with calligraphy-caliber handwriting who can’t think worth a lick- but they sure do write pretty. </p>
<p>I would much rather my children spend time solving problems, working to understand ideas, each other and themselves. Past a certain level of legibility- just can’t care about it!</p>
<p>I agree with anitaw. </p>
<p>My daughter has beautiful cursive handwrting – she taught herself when she was about 6, after asking me to buy her a handwriting workbook. </p>
<p>My son struggled & struggled and never could learn. They tried switching him from the classroom where the standard script was taught over to the teacher who taught italic & back again, but nothing would work. Finally, when he was 12 he became embarrassed – I had taken both my kids to the bank to open savings accounts, and my daughter (then 7) could sign her own name on the signature card, but my son couldn’t – he was embarrassed and asked to take the card home to bring back later. Then he borrowed one of his sister’s handwriting workbooks and stayed up one night studying it – and then he learned and actually could write very nicely… but painfully slow.</p>
<p>So I really think it comes naturally for some and not for others. As my son’s case illustrates, it’s useful to at least be given the opportunity to learn, as it can be embarrassing not to know – but my son and I simply can’t combine legible with fast, so we print… or better yet, type. As you can see from the typical length of my posts, I can type very quickly… though my accuracy leaves sometimes leaves something to be desired. </p>
<p>I do think that in today’s world keyboarding skills simply are more important. I had an interesting discussion with my 2 kids last week when I was helping my son shop for a new computer – the salesman showed us the “tablet” model laptop, where the screen swivels around to lay flat over the keyboard, and a stylus can be used to write on the screen, to take notes. We all thought the technology was way cool, but even my daughter with the great cursive wondered why anyone would want to take notes that way: typing is so much faster.</p>
<p>I don’t see the point to cursive except to comprehend others and sign. I haven’t written in cursive since 6th grade, when I learned it (excepting signatures.)</p>
<p>Except for my husband, my family has always had bad cursive handwriting (son has ADHD and some say that is linked) I write with a combination of both sometimes but always print my checks. When I worked at a bank, they recommended it. I found this on a “safety site” that pretty much summed up what they suggested, especially to our younger bankers:
Write to the left and print Print or type all words and numbers as far to the left in each space as possible. Printing is less easily altered than cursive writing. Always use a ball point pen. If you use pencil, someone could erase and alter the check. Markers can also be removed.
I must say I always envied my catholic friends growing up, because they always had gorgeous cursive handwriting, but then they would remind me of the torture they suffered in doing it. I think like anything else, some people will always find it easier than others.</p>
<p>calmom: My d has a tablet (school requires it & we had no choice in model selection.) She NEVER takes school notes by hand. Always types. This tablet will recognize the users’s handwriting & transform it into typed format. Another feature she never uses. She does, however, handwrite notes & drawings in color on top of her typed notes. So at least she is putting some of this ridiculously expensive machine’s features to use.</p>
<p>anitaw: Do you have any thoughts on why my ADD son tends to have much stronger focus when writing in cursive than he does while printing? I’m talking an improved ability to write logically, not just legibly. What would be a neurological explanation? I know it slows him down, bit I wonder if there is more to it than just slower speed = more accuracy.</p>
<p>So basically a tablet computer provides the student with the opportunity to doodle?</p>
<p>Re: Tablet PCs</p>
<p>Yes, you can doodle all you want and not waste any paper. The stylus on the Toshiba Tablets have an erase function built into the top which functions just like a pencil.</p>
<p>Why not take notes on paper rather than using a Tablet? Searchability.</p>
<p>Take notes in your own handwriting (no need really to convert your writing to text, if you don’t want to). Highlight a keyword (say “George Washington”) and bring up all your notes with that term. Much more useful than flipping through a paper notebook or (in my case) a yellow pad (when dinosaurs ruled the world). </p>
<p>Back in your dorm, you can hyperlink your notes/keywords to Web sites and save those relevant pages. With a Tablet, you can annotate those pages with your stylus by circling/highlighting important passages and even doodling in the margins.</p>
<p>If you have Encarta loaded, you can link your notes to relevant articles from MS’s encyclopedia program. </p>
<p>Finally, doodling for some, math and scientific notations for others. Tablets have a real advantage over laptops when it comes to taking notes in these kinds of classes.</p>
<p>Yes, typing is faster than taking hand written notes in class (and perhaps faster than writing them on a Tablet). Then again, in a quiet classroom, students pounding away on their laptops are just as annoying as people talking on their cell phones in a movie theatre.</p>
<p>I want a tablet! </p>
<p>I agree that I would rather my D spend more time solving problems than on handwriting - her problem is that because she never learned to correctly form letters it does take her longer to write and when there is a time constraint she hardly ever finishes. </p>
<p>Back to the tablet - why have I not seen one of these before?? I am going to look it up now!</p>
<p>Re: Tablet</p>
<p>D’s h.s. is a wireless environment. Teachers have their tablets open & will project the class notes/presentation for the day on a large screen. Then the teacher can doodle, highlight, call up different webpages, etc. THe doodle function is used for science pretty heavily. It could also work for teaching all types of visual concepts. And the day’s work/lecture is just downloaded by the girls. (Is downlaod the proper term? Don’t know…) Kind of a paperless form of passing out xeroxed versions of the old plastic overhead projector sheets. With the added benefit of color & web page information & links. </p>
<p>It’s pretty cool. I just wish my d used all the features of her tablet.</p>
<p>Powerpoint presentations are second nature to these girls. I really feel ancient when I compare her h.s. experience to mine. Programming was only offered to boys back in my day. In my first programming course in college, I was using pucnch cards! A nightmare when the ink ribbon dried out…</p>
<p>Wow - that sounds so incredible. I had no idea this was even possible - very innovative and interesting.</p>
<p>Soccerguy: Yeah, I never could figure out why they wanted us to write like that. </p>
<p>The problem is that handwriting is taught very early on. It took me a while to develop the fine motor skills necessary for good handwriting. I think that boys tend to develop motor skills later, which is some of the reason why their handwriting is so bad. I think it would be easier to re-train an adult to write well than to teach a little kid to write beautifully.</p>
<p>i wasn’t required to write in cursive for the last four years, but i love it and still use it from time to time.</p>
<p>I haven’t taken the time to read all of the posts, but I thought I would add my two cents.</p>
<p>I went to a Catholic school for K-8, learned cursive in 2nd, and after that, everything was in cursive. I continued with cursive through part of (public) high school. One of the biggest reasons I switched to printing? In my case, my cursive is small and compact, and all of the assignments where we were told to “write a page” were a lot shorter if I just printed!</p>
<p>Now in college, I tend to stick with printing exclusively in math and science classes (which is almost all I take notes in now…I haven’t figured out how to take notes in humanities classes yet 
) Occasionally I will still write in cursive to get back into the flow of it and keep my brain occupied when I’m insanely bored in a class, but mostly I just print. The reason I don’t use cursive in math and science is that I have a hard time switching from printing formulae to writing text in cursive, and I’ve had problems deciphering some formulae when I’m doing the half-printing-half-cursive thing.</p>
<p>Back in the 1930s and 40s, cursive was the only form of handwriting used. Eventually in the 60s, the Dick and Jane books promoted print form, and thus took grip in public schools. I, myself, tend to write in cursive because it seems more professional and neat.</p>
<pre><code> Cursive is quickly becoming archaic and extinct here in the USA. So sad!
</code></pre>
<p>I got an HP tablet this year and after a while abandoned the handwriting part (too quickly I think). The recognition was excellent, but ultimately I wanted to change the written work into typed text to incorporate into reports and I found it a hassle- easier just to type it to start. I think I need a different program but haven’t had time to figure it out!</p>
<p>StickerShock- I think most kids who have ADD tend to have messy handwriting because they are non specific in the muscles they use for the process (handwriting usually improves immediately with medication). Beyond that, there is no ‘usual’ pattern in terms of prefering cursive or manuscript that I know of. In general, if a task is made more interesting, attention is better. Beyond slower speed, this is about the only explanation I can think of for why cursive writing might be a/w better written products–</p>
<p>my printing is faster than my cursive, which is why i abandoned my cursive when i started high school.</p>
<p>Just want to touch base on this issue. I just finished a cooperative project with the teacher of our Grade 3 class. It took 5 months and the students researched animal habitats, how everything about the animal was affected by their habitat. I used the Big6 process for you teachers out there. We expected the final copy to be done in cursive, illustrated and then I filmed their self evaluation. They could not write in cursive before this project. Several of the students came to the library for individual pep lessons! I worked with one boy from Sweden who was learning English during this process as well. We worked on his table of contents until it was beautiful. I encouraged him and told him that his writing was amazing. I didn’t see him after that until his report was sent up to the library to be laminated: pages of his writing in cursive, English and very well done. Every page illustrated as well. When I filmed them and interviewed them they spoke of learning to write in cursive and how they felt so good about it. Eight year olds understand life in a very concrete way. The only child who struggled was a young lad who had arrived 3 months ago from NYC. He had attended a private school where they put the children on to computers before they could write by hand, use a pencil, put graphite on paper. </p>
<p>I am a very old fashioned teacher librarian. I won’t be in schools much longer. The report idea was what I remembered from my mother’s projects as a classroom teacher, the attention to detail and craft. I think it speaks to the heart of a child. Of course as they grow up their writing becomes half printing, half scrawl. They word process. But for those first few years they learn to be artists and know that they are. </p>
<p>The teacher let the children take their reports home for an evening to show their parents but requested them back to be put into their end of the year portfolios. She said it was like pulling hen’s teeth…</p>