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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 734
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"Keyboarding killed the penmanship star"
I was reading USA Today on Avantgo today, and came across an interesting article:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/20...-cursive_x.htm
It's called "Keyboarding killed the penmanship star" and it is about the decline of penmanship skills in the modern computer age, especially in schools.
"Computers are better," (..) "With typing, you don't have to erase when you make a mistake. You just hit delete, so it's a lot easier."
Such attitudes worry a growing number of parents, educators and historians, who fear that computers are speeding the demise of a uniquely American form of expression. Handwriting experts say the wild popularity of e-mail, instant messages and other electronic communication, particularly among kids, could erase cursive within a few decades.
Not surprising!
Although there are few studies of cursive styles, some teachers and enthusiasts have estimated that at least 7% of third graders are using Italic, whose printed letters are "semi-connected" with small tails. Students don't slant their notebooks much to write Italic.
The rise of Italic alarms handwriting aficionados, who say cursive could become a lost art within a generation or two
I believe them. I can't write worth a damn these days. My handwriting looks like palm Grafitti written by someone with severe Parkinson's disease. I haven't written proper cursive since 1995..
Michael Sull, a 54-year-old artist in Overland Park, Kan., says today's third graders have not developed proper forearm and hand musculature, seated posture or mental discipline for cursive. The former president of the International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting says keyboards, joysticks and cell phone touch pads have ruined kids' ability to hold a pencil properly, let alone write legibly
How right you are, Mr. Sull. I haven't used a pen in *five years* except to sign for a package.. Ever since I use the laptop and got the Palm, I haven't touched a pen. In fact, I do not even *own* a single pen or pencil. The only semblance of writing is using Grafitti on Palm or my PPC's Block Recognizer, which isn't exactly helping matters. On the PDA, you lack feedback, so whenever I try to write on paper, I go all over the place.
Parents who pride themselves on their penmanship often bemoan their children's cursive � particularly when they can't read sloppy notes or notice that their kids increasingly turn in homework through e-mail. Many adults pine for a return to the Palmer Method or even its fancier predecessor, Spencerian.
"Cursive was so character defining when I was in school," says Amy Greene, whose 9-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son prefer keyboards to cursive in their Palo Alto classrooms. "The way you wrote something was considered part of your inner being, your core, your worth. ... Now it's considered an anachronism."
Damn, don't you hate these people? It's called progress guys! Deal with it. Writing on computer is faster, easier to learn, you make less mistakes, and it is easier to correct.. why learn something so outdated as cursive when it's totally useless in today's modern computer-driven society. Not to mention the fact that you won't have to type everything into a computer if you are stupid enough to still be using actual paper. I'll take my computer over a pen any day of the week.
Back at technology-savvy Horrall Elementary, Monique's teacher, Ed Boell, says Palmer-style cursive is worth the extra effort to learn. He refuses to give extra points when students turn in laser-printed homework assignments with fancy computer fonts, and he urges kids to send handwritten letters to parents and friends.
"letters"? What is this raving lunatic going on about? Aren't asddvbjeijoejfe letters? Give me email any day. I have friends in places as far away as the US, Australia, Malaysia, Africa, etc. I can't write them a letter: it'd take several weeks to arrive and get a reply! I have friends in wherever and I email them allmost every day!
What's his email address, so I can fire off a quick reprimand at 50 words a minute 
-Bjorn
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