Food for Thought on Cursive and More

Stad
Stad
3923
 

I read this article a while back and kept thinking about to the point I decided to make a post. Here’s a link to the study it cites, for those who want to go straight to the source (and have the patience to read it).

The short summary is that writing cursive is better for your brain and its development.  However, I’m aware of some (and I believe it’s a small number) of schools dropping the teaching of cursive as outdated in favor of teaching “keyboarding” (distance learning because of COVID didn’t help).

Then, I started thinking about how some schools are no longer teaching how to tell time from a clock with hands. Then there is the debate on whether or not rote memorization of the math tables is worthwhile when kids are using calculators — or rote memorization of anything, for that matter.  (Aside:  One of my happiest memories in College was when I convinced my parents to buy me an HP-35 for Christmas.)

And now English majors at some major universities can get their degree without a single course in Shakespeare.

Is education doomed? Why did it take CRT, wokism, and sexual assaults to wake parents up into getting more involved in their kids’ education?

Published in Education
Join Ricochet!
This post was promoted to the Main Feed by a Ricochet Editor at the recommendation of Ricochet members. Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 39 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
Join Ricochet
  1. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad
    Post author
    7:03 AM EST ⋅ Dec 15, 2021

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    RightAngles (View Comment):

    We are becoming the Eloi. I knew a woman in Michigan who went to the U of Michigan in the 70s and has a degree in English. She had never read a Shakespeare play (we read two of them in 7h and 8th grade, and most of the rest in high school.) This was already going on in the 70s. It started the minute the Woodstock hippies got out of college and began teaching.

    Exactly. Looking backward (into the 70s) it seems to me that the field of education never met a fad that it didn’t like. My favorite was putting animals (dogs, cats, etc.) into the classrooms because they had a “soothing” effect on the students (along with the Ritalin, I assume).

    Any parents who objected to these fads and/or the dumbing down of the curriculum were dismissed as ignorant by the high priests of the teaching establishment. Now, 50 years later, parents are finally banding together. If they are not successful, then I would advocate for the elimination of public schools.

    They are still doing the animal thing. My wife went back to college to retool. One of the students brought in her support lama. Yes, I said that. The university let her bring her pet lama into class on a regular basis.

    Can I bring my support Sasquatch?

    • #31
  2. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad
    Post author
    7:03 AM EST ⋅ Dec 15, 2021

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    RightAngles (View Comment):

    We are becoming the Eloi. I knew a woman in Michigan who went to the U of Michigan in the 70s and has a degree in English. She had never read a Shakespeare play (we read two of them in 7h and 8th grade, and most of the rest in high school.) This was already going on in the 70s. It started the minute the Woodstock hippies got out of college and began teaching.

    Exactly. Looking backward (into the 70s) it seems to me that the field of education never met a fad that it didn’t like. My favorite was putting animals (dogs, cats, etc.) into the classrooms because they had a “soothing” effect on the students (along with the Ritalin, I assume).

    Any parents who objected to these fads and/or the dumbing down of the curriculum were dismissed as ignorant by the high priests of the teaching establishment. Now, 50 years later, parents are finally banding together. If they are not successful, then I would advocate for the elimination of public schools.

    They are still doing the animal thing. My wife went back to college to retool. One of the students brought in her support lama. Yes, I said that. The university let her bring her pet lama into class on a regular basis.

    Hope they have a tenured professor clean up the llama crap…

    Grad student . . .

    • #32
  3. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad
    Post author
    7:05 AM EST ⋅ Dec 15, 2021

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    Most of the time the reason we look at a clock is to have an idea of how much more time until some event or deadline, or how much time has passed since something.

    This is the reason we still need to teach analog clock-reading.

    • #33
  4. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad
    Post author
    7:08 AM EST ⋅ Dec 15, 2021

    Douglas Pratt (View Comment):
    I am old enough that there was a “penmanship” element in my second and third grade. I was terrible at it. My cursive is illegible.

    You and me both.  My handwriting is terrible . . .

    • #34
  5. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles
    7:10 AM EST ⋅ Dec 15, 2021

    Stad (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    Most of the time the reason we look at a clock is to have an idea of how much more time until some event or deadline, or how much time has passed since something.

    This is the reason we still need to teach analog clock-reading.

    Nobody will  know the meaning of “clockwise” and “counterclockwise”

    • #35
  6. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad
    Post author
    7:15 AM EST ⋅ Dec 15, 2021

    RightAngles (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    Most of the time the reason we look at a clock is to have an idea of how much more time until some event or deadline, or how much time has passed since something.

    This is the reason we still need to teach analog clock-reading.

    Nobody will know the meaning of “clockwise” and “counterclockwise”

    We use those terms in the sciences and engineering, so yes!

    • #36
  7. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB
    8:06 AM EST ⋅ Dec 15, 2021

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    RightAngles (View Comment):

    We are becoming the Eloi. I knew a woman in Michigan who went to the U of Michigan in the 70s and has a degree in English. She had never read a Shakespeare play (we read two of them in 7h and 8th grade, and most of the rest in high school.) This was already going on in the 70s. It started the minute the Woodstock hippies got out of college and began teaching.

    Exactly. Looking backward (into the 70s) it seems to me that the field of education never met a fad that it didn’t like. My favorite was putting animals (dogs, cats, etc.) into the classrooms because they had a “soothing” effect on the students (along with the Ritalin, I assume).

    Any parents who objected to these fads and/or the dumbing down of the curriculum were dismissed as ignorant by the high priests of the teaching establishment. Now, 50 years later, parents are finally banding together. If they are not successful, then I would advocate for the elimination of public schools.

    They are still doing the animal thing. My wife went back to college to retool. One of the students brought in her support lama. Yes, I said that. The university let her bring her pet lama into class on a regular basis.

    Studying the Enlightenment, no doubt.

    • #37
  8. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker
    9:21 AM EST ⋅ Dec 15, 2021

    Stina (View Comment):

    I am a hand note person. I use technology out of necessity, but I prefer the control of organization I have when writing things out by hand. Most of the time, when I’m stuck on a code solution for a program, I’ll settle down with pencil and paper to really think through the problem, draw it out, make diagrams, flow charts, etc. I’ve tried doing the same in PowerPoint, but that is better for documenting what I’ve already figured out and not brainstorming.

    I have a flip phone but my PDA is a pocket-sized composition book.  Doesn’t need to recharge.  Lasts forever.  Just don’t put it in the washer.

    • #38
  9. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty
    3:39 PM EST ⋅ Dec 15, 2021

    The Palmer Method.

    https://images.app.goo.gl/mRpWzSfWuLHYTz9G7

    • #39
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
Join Ricochet