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CAJUNLAWYER

CAJUNLAWYER

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On da Bayou Teche
but I don't think so.
Read in the local paper today that because of increasing demands on what has to be taught in schools these days and the limited amount of time allotted, something has to give. So they have decided that they don't need to teach the kids how to write :eek: :mad: That's right-they are not teaching script (I refuse to use the word cursive) any more. Once they get you to print, they figure it's finished and they move on to more important topics-like safe sex.
This is positively insane. Any educators out there that wish to comment? Am I missing something? I know technology is advancing-we use calculators instead of slide rulers and GPS instead of sextants, but I fear we rely way too much on technology instead of using it as a tool to augment skills, it had become the skill itself.


Does anyone even remember White & Sistrunk "The Elements of Style" or how to diagram a sentence? We are building on foundations of sand!
Or maybe it's just me..................:(
 
It's not just you. My wife teaches 6th grade, and it is appalling how many students she gets that don't know their "times tables" and have handwriting that is like trying to decipher Arabic. These are kids that are going to be completely lost when their electronic device runs out of battery, or they loose electricity.
 
When my oldest son was in 1st grade I talked to his teacher about his writing - she told me there was no time in class to practice writing! So she expected the kids to perfect their printing in kindergarten. He learned cursive in 3rd grade but doesn't use it. He is now in 11th grade and his writing is horrendous. The explanation I hear is that everything is computers now. He doesn't want to fill out job applications because he knows his writing is so bad.

To cut down on obesity, make HomeEc a required class in junior high, boys included. And how about gun safety class as part of PhysEd? Teach to prevent.
 
My daughters are in 4th grade & Kindergarten.
The school says that there is not time to teach them script/cursive writing anymore. Thanks in part to the Fed & State Education Depts. the curriculum is stretched beyond prudence.
When the 4th grader was in 1st grade the teacher told us that they didn't place emphasis on correct spelling, because at that point they were concentrating on learning the sounds each letter makes. The problem is that no other grade levels seem to place much emphasis on spelling either, so you end up with kids that can't even spell, forget about writing & penmanship.
 
Absolutely sickening! Birth control is more important than the three r's (reading, riting and rithmetic).
 
CAJUNLAWYER said:
but I don't think so.
Read in the local paper today that because of increasing demands on what has to be taught in schools these days and the limited amount of time allotted, something has to give. So they have decided that they don't need to teach the kids how to write :eek: :mad:

I know technology is advancing-we use calculators instead of slide rulers and GPS instead of sextants, but I fear we rely way too much on technology instead of using it as a tool to augment skills, it had become the skill itself.


We are building on foundations of sand!
Or maybe it's just me..................:(
Click to expand...

This says it all:
a7u4e3um.jpg
 
They like to blame it on budgetary constraints or some other vague issue like self esteem, but the real problem in many instances is the teachers. My son who is now 37, while in grammar school would bring home notes about his behavior or some other perceived misdeed, that were so full of errors in grammar, syntax, and spelling, that I was compelled to edit them and return them to the school principal. This, of course, didn't endear me to the staff and in retrospect, I imagine it didn't do much for my son either. The issue is, that if you expect excellence you must teach excellence, and there are very few public tax-supported schools that can meet that standard. The issue of poor teachers is something we as a nation must get a handle on or we are ultimately doomed.
 
This is why my wife and I spend $8000 per year for tuition for each of our 2 sons ($16,000 per year total, does not cover cost of uniforms, extra supplements for athletics or the additional money we gift to the schools each year, or the money we spend each year at each school's benefit auction) to attend the best parochial schools in our city -- we feel like the taxes we pay that go to our public school system are a complete waste of money -- the American history program has been re-written into a liberal sanitized version designed to comfort all of the usual liberal agendas (insert any liberal agenda here) -- and wonder why so many of their graduates aren't proficient in anything other than
"cassette rewind", "car detailing", and "entitlement theory and status".
Our sons are both straight A students, accomplished athletes and sell-disciplined (yes sir, no maam 24/7) by virtue of determined parental guidance and excellent parochial schools.

Caj, yes, there are thankfully those of us who were drilled on the tome "Elements of Style" and who learned it's lessons well -- still a classic text. Having graded bar exams, I could often tell where the writer went to law school (in the state of Louisiana) and whether they had been trained in even rudimentary writing skills -- hate to say it, I graded some abysmally bad bar exams -- I usually graded civil procedure exams -- and it was clear that some had not even read the La civil procedure text. Dumbing down, it happens at all levels.

On the bright side, we will have an ample supply of folks to fill minimum wage jobs:D
 
I was well known by the teachers in my son's schools because I also edited any communication from the school system. Especially in his latter years when Spell Check and Word Perfect were just a key stroke away. I believe the emphasis in our school system today is more about social issues(agenda) than formal education. After all, how can you control the masses if you teach them how to think for themselves?
 
Remember that our "leaders" send their children to exclusive private schools where they not only are not taught useless drivel but they are taught to think rationally and make intelligent decisions. Bet they learn script too as well as to spell correctly. Kinda says something for our society, doesn't it?

Charlie
 
BeSmiley said:
When my oldest son was in 1st grade I talked to his teacher about his writing - He learned cursive in 3rd grade but doesn't use it. He is now in 11th grade and his writing is horrendous.
Click to expand...

That's me. I only use cursive when writing my signature. I print. Funny how most forms ask you to do this anyhow. Went thru 5 years of "higher learning" printing everything I wrote,essays,term papers,etc. Can't recall any professor requiring the use of cursive. Btw,that was almost 50 years ago. I've always been envious of those with stylish pensmanship. Even my printing is pretty bad. :o
f.t.
 
novalty said:
It's not just you. My wife teaches 6th grade, and it is appalling how many students she gets that don't know their "times tables" and have handwriting that is like trying to decipher Arabic. These are kids that are going to be completely lost when their electronic device runs out of battery, or they loose electricity.
Click to expand...

Some aren't learning the "times tables" anymore. My nephew was having trouble in math. Apparently there's a new way to teach multiplication that neither I, nor my sister (we both have much higher than average IQs) or my BIL (an accountant) can understand. The teacher doesn't really even understand it. This, in part, is why I, like COL Jagdog, spend a large sum of money every year on a private school education for my daughter. Our school bill is more than our house payment, but sacrifices must be made so that there are at least a few in the next generation who have a proper education, and more importantly, have been taught to think for themselves.
 
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fat tom said:
That's me. I only use cursive when writing my signature. I print. Funny how most forms ask you to do this anyhow. Went thru 5 years of "higher learning" printing everything I wrote,essays,term papers,etc. Can't recall any professor requiring the use of cursive. Btw,that was almost 50 years ago. I've always been envious of those with stylish pensmanship. Even my printing is pretty bad. :o
f.t.
Click to expand...

Me too.
BTW my 4th grader prints better than I do.

I’m very impressed with the teachers and the public school my kids attend.

Emory
 
Im not an educator - at least not with kids. We called it cursive and there were many a recess that I spent inside ''writing sentences'' because the teacher hadnt been able to decipher the hyroglyphics that I called hand writing. While I hated it at the time looking back it was just another discipline that was part of my education. They made me do it - and I was a better person because of it. I worry that we will see the day where a young person is unable to understand cursive,,
 
I hope that what im about to say comes across as intended and that no one reads to much into it. (Thats my mini disclaimer)

Here it goes....i grew up in the Soviet Union in the early 80s and while there are many negative things one could say about it, education was not one if those.

To make sure everything was covered schools had shifts. You either went from 6am-1pm or from 1pm - 8pm. This way all kids had time for whatever lesson plans there were.

From the very first day of first grade school was school and not an extension of kindergarten. I saw my cousins here doing coloring books in first grade! :what: . It consisted of coloring in an animal with its correct color! Sometimes they had to name the animal too. :confused::what: !!!!! For us first grade consisted of learning to write print and script, multiplication to 6 (second grade you were expected to know multiplication to 12). We had to read actual books, not just picture books, and then write papers on them. We were expected to memorize poems that were several pages long, written by famous poets, and recite them back in class. Script writing had to be neat and legible. If it was not you re wrote whatever it was. There were special notebooks with lines and squares that each letter had to be in.

There was also gym and vacation days and everything else that schools should have but the education was far stricter and more demanding. You would be surprised but a 7 year old can do all these things and more. I never finished school there because we came here. When i was placed in school my knowledge of math, history and geography was at least 4 grades higher and in a few cases college level. I notice that here school caters to the lowest common denominator. Instead of getting that kid up to everyone elses level they put everyone at his/her level.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
 
We were taught the Palmer Method beginning in the first grade, in parochial school.

I wonder if the word penmanship is even recognized in today's world.
 
I receitly received a pistol and some ammo that were my grandfaters. On the ammo box were some instructions that he wrote in the mid 1930's. The cursive is beautiful, and compleatly legable. My parents were both born in 1932 and went to public schools in Columbus, Ohio and New Orlines,La. (never together). They have wonderful hand writting. I was born in 1956 and started school in Columbus. My first grade teacher told my mother that she "HATED CHILDREN" my second grade teacher was retireing that year and while very sweet, didn't teach the basics. In 4th grade I started at a country school with no buget for quality teachers(but paid the school admistration 2x money for 1/2 the students as the only "city" school in the county- that is 4x per student!) I had diagnosed learning "disabilities" to the school system it was popy cock. As you can see from my spelling they never tought me to spell. When my nephew went to the same school they had the same attitude. My brother sat down with the Administration and our lawyer and showed them the paperwork for a federal lawsuite based on A.D.A. They made only enough effort to keep from going to court. My brother fought with them every year until my nephew graduated. He went to a non-public college and had to take remedial math and language. He graduated college with a 3.+ GPA and a double major in Economics and Finance. My kids...I bussed the across county to a privete Christian school where they learned to read, write, spell, and do math. Their mother and I taught them to think, to get out of bed, to compleat a project, and to manage their limited allowance. Weather the schools teach our children (or grandchildren) anything or not, We have to watch over their shoulder and make sure they have usable skills, 'cause the government won't! Ivan
P.S. I edit all my posts 2 or 3 times before posting, and still have many errors-sorry.
 
I learned how to write in cursive in either 2nd or 3rd grade and i only use it when i write my signature. I would use it when i do my regular everyday writing but my writing is so hard to read i print instead.

BTW my writing is so hard to read i could be a doctor.
 
I know there are things taught today that weren't taught 60 years ago, like computers and typing is more important today due to computer use.
I agree that it has become less possible to issue fail grades and I suppose the thought is if they fail enough then they just drop out. I think cursive handwriting is important. If your handwriting is atrocious, it can hold you back despite other talents.
I recall my daughter's teachers teaching the capitol is Pierre. The teacher pronounced it "Pee air" with the accent on the "air". I told her if you are from there, it is pronounced "pier". My daughter said that wasn't the way the teacher pronounced it and I said all that means is she has never been to the capitol of South Dakota.
Another time my daughter's school had school colors day (orange and black) on St. Patrick's day. The students were all supposed to wear school colors that day. I explained to her that the color orange when it is worn on St. Patrick's Day is insulting to some people of Irish (Catholic) descent. The color Orange began as a celebration of the Protestant King William of Orange's defeat of the Catholic King James II at Boyne near Dublin in 1690. I would have called the school, but my wife forbade me to do so. That particular town in Iowa was 87% Catholic. My thought is these folks are teaching our children and they don't know this???

If we do not improve our public education then we may end up with classes where the under class are public educated and the upper class are either home schooled or privately schooled. The whole idea of public education is to give everyone an equal chance. It breaks my heart that teachers unions have gotten to the point where they protect teachers that should be nowhere near a school.
 
Loss of handwriting is another loss of individuality. The underlying concept is to eliminate any vestige of individuality and instill uniformity in "the masses". Yuck.
Click to expand...

God I hope your wrong, but I'm also afraid your may be right.

One of these days these kids are going to NEED to sign some important documents how in the hell are they going to do that if they can't wright their names using script?
 
My handwriting is awful, the product of much moving during my elementary school years including swapping between the education systems of two different nations. I got cursive writing class here in the US, but when I went back to England certain parts of the US style got e in trouble.
 
There's no need to have to write anymore. Just go to the Dept. of Social Services and someone will gladly fill out any form required for whatever "service" you want or need. All that is required is a big "X" in the box where your signature goes, sit back and wait by the mailbox.

It seems like the goal is to create a generation of dependent dim-wits.
 
Remember that the documents that founded this country, were written in cursive, soon the masses will only be able to read government provided "translations". A very sad day is comeing. Ivan
 
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