Another Nail In Coffin of Cursive Writing

[guitar george]

My detailed and handwritten response is in the mail.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by LouieAtienza

Sure.. juat threw it out there for those whose work flow it fits into, like mine. The final nail in the coffin for any writing is when a device can transcribe our thoughts.

So being that's some time away, I don't understand the seeming eagerness to kill off something. Let's allow cursive writing to live its life until it fades graciously into the hall of obsolescence! Like everything obsolete, nostalgia, curiosity, need, and desire will bring people back to the art anyway, just as time does with most everything else.

I don't think there's an all or much of society level of eager to kill off cursive writing. It seems to be a practical matter. My school district can still afford it because enough of the municipality has high home values. Where our cabin is a home like ours would cost 1/3 the price. They struggle more for basic school funding and still have to teach the basics.

[LouieAtienza]

Originally Posted by guitar george

My detailed and handwritten response is in the mail.

I'll run it through the OCR software for the masses here...

[LouieAtienza]

Originally Posted by imwjl

I don't think there's an all or much of society level of eager to kill off cursive writing. It seems to be a practical matter. My school district can still afford it because enough of the municipality has high home values. Where our cabin is a home like ours would cost 1/3 the price. They struggle more for basic school funding and still have to teach the basics.

Maybe not, and maybe it's just lack of direct conversation here, but from the many responses I've seen here it seems like there's a mob holding daggers outside, waiting to bludgeon cursive writing like it's the bane of society!

[robj144]

Originally Posted by LouieAtienza

Yes I know.... but methinks the price for auch things will drop significantly like most all tech. I have computers and laptops, so I'd pay a little premium for something that does one thing, but well.

True, but the point I was making is that I can basically do this right now with my computers. Only disadvantage is the battery life is around 5 to 6 hours though.

[LouieAtienza]

Originally Posted by robj144

True, but the point I was making is that I can basically do this right now with my computers. Only disadvantage is the battery life is around 5 to 6 hours though.

Of course.... what I like about it is that it IS untethered to everything else, as if I were actually carrying a notebook with me. I'm a fan of 2-n-1s and tablet PCs as well. I have a laptop that could probably run a small defense company with. But I'm not too keen on using it for anything other than my design and CAD/CAM work. It never even has its WiFi on because I don't want any disruption from a bad or incompatible update. I do have another laptop, a little older, that I do use for connecting online.

But just like my tools, I have specific uses for each one.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by LouieAtienza

Maybe not, and maybe it's just lack of direct conversation here, but from the many responses I've seen here it seems like there's a mob holding daggers outside, waiting to bludgeon cursive writing like it's the bane of society!

I would ask that mob if they have kids in k-12 or of they are following school board and school funding issues.

My kids have had 8 years in a place that's made news for defunding education and see for a lot of people I know. All of our oldest kids are getting their first college acceptance letters, and they've passed the state-wide exams for AP course college credit. That being competitive is most important to me. A lot of cuts have happened but the kids are in a high school with testing results that make it look like an elite place.

You can always learn things later. I graduated from high school in a smaller town with poor facilities and less classes than other schools in the area but they concentrated on their record of how many kids got in to the state's flagship university. That was the right thing to do. I was able to have that entry ticket and I got more polished later on because of that ticket.

Maybe I'll reconsider if the people crying about this start threads to bring back the shorthand classes or have the shop classes cover split rims.

[Wadcutter]

The question being, why isn’t it taught in school anymore? I’m taking the time and effort to teach my grandkids cursive writing simply because they don’t teach it in their public school. Maybe someone here in the field of education can enlighten me as to why cursive writing has gone the way of the buggy whip. Maybe I’m just too “old school,” but I just can’t imagine going through life without the ability to write in cursive. I realize we all live in the keyboard age now, but I’m not willing to let cursive vanish without a fight, at least when it comes to my grandkids.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by Wadcutter

The question being, why isn’t it taught in school anymore? I’m taking the time and effort to teach my grandkids cursive writing simply because they don’t teach it in their public school. Maybe someone here in the field of education can enlighten me as to why cursive writing has gone the way of the buggy whip. Maybe I’m just too “old school,” but I just can’t imagine going through life without the ability to write in cursive. I realize we all live in the keyboard age now, but I’m not willing to let cursive vanish without a fight, at least when it comes to my grandkids.

I think that's cool that you're teaching it to your grandkids, and any time spent with kids is good time. Good job.

Here's a Quora thread that discusses it as well: https://www.quora.com/Why-don-t-most...chool-any-more

[Otterhound]

While doing research on the origin of my house , I found myself in the basement of the County Courthouse reading handwritten script from the 1700's .
It took some time , but I eventually became fairly good a reading and understanding what I was reading . After all , most of what I was reading was King's English , not the dialect that we use here today .
I could not have ever imagined myself doing this beforehand , but I adapted .
My guess is that cursive will not perish completely , but it will likely end up a basement of the County Courthouse thing .

[fumei]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

I think that's cool that you're teaching it to your grandkids, and any time spent with kids is good time. Good job.

Here's a Quora thread that discusses it as well: https://www.quora.com/Why-don-t-most...chool-any-more

I read that Quora thread. Nothing terribly surprising...except for the fact that the comment that mentioned their mortgage was all done digitally..and their signature was entered in the box with a pseudo-cursive font.

What? So we do not use REAL signatures, but we use FAKE signatures?

Maybe (tongue in cheek), whenever we buy computers, laptops, phones, in the future some algorithm will offer us a unique "pseudo-cursive" font. Our own personal signature font.

[RedJoker]

Originally Posted by fumei

I read that Quora thread. Nothing terribly surprising...except for the fact that the comment that mentioned their mortgage was all done digitally..and their signature was entered in the box with a pseudo-cursive font.

What? So we do not use REAL signatures, but we use FAKE signatures?

Maybe (tongue in cheek), whenever we buy computers, laptops, phones, in the future some algorithm will offer us a unique "pseudo-cursive" font. Our own personal signature font.

We only use digital signatures at work anymore as they are far more secure. It's just a block with a name signifying that they're there but I've seen that block use pseudo cursive just look more "real."

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by fumei

I read that Quora thread. Nothing terribly surprising...except for the fact that the comment that mentioned their mortgage was all done digitally..and their signature was entered in the box with a pseudo-cursive font.

What? So we do not use REAL signatures, but we use FAKE signatures?

Maybe (tongue in cheek), whenever we buy computers, laptops, phones, in the future some algorithm will offer us a unique "pseudo-cursive" font. Our own personal signature font.

I’m surprised you’ve not used a digital signature before, they’re fairly common.

We gave our kids their first debit cards today, and they signed them without cursive though they know it. They tried both ways and both liked their block letter signatures better.

I guess I’m generally ok with change and try and not sweat the things that aren’t a huge deal.

I’d much rather have them learn useful skills like coding, which IMO should be as common as learning another language.

But great if folks think it’s important, more learning as always good.

[imwjl]

We're in a world where a key that's 256 bits of characters is what is more important than ink from a pen. One of the Freakonomics or Planet Money podcasts had an episode on what your hand's signature means these days.

An electronic signature is mostly about fulfilling statutory requirements. There are good articles that explain what a signing service or part of a web site or app does.

When I handle someone else's device I often get a reminder that the swiping gesture of Swiftkey keyboard is the modern fast and formal handwriting. Our paper is becoming glass. The 3 new or current iPhones and new top tier Android phones tell that story.

[fumei]

I think I was misunderstood. I get the idea of digital "signature" (which of course are not signatures at all); I was just amused at the idea of a cursive looking font. What the heck is the point of that?

The two DIFFERENT people who "signed" the form had the same looking "writing".

It just seemed silly to me. If the OK button to accept a digital identification is good enough, why bother to make a fake AND IDENTICAL "writing".