Fashion, beauty and animal loving language consultant from South Africa living in Stockholm, Sweden.
View all posts by Janet Carr
11 thoughts
I’m lost for words. Seriously that child is forbidden to write her NAME (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) in whichever way s/he wants. You don’t do that to a child. You don’t do that to anyone, a name is the most personal identity we have. All I can hope is that this child is supported by family, other teachers and responsible adults, and hopefully, since the child has had “several warnings”, she has a strong personality.
I agree with @Clare Shepherd, this teacher is a bully, and sadly there’s nothing new there, I’m sure all of us knew at least one such failure of a human being while growing up. What they hope to accomplish is beyond me; I had the same reaction when I read Finland will actually ban handbooks and replace them with tablets. Handwriting has been scientifically proven as beneficial for a child’s development and an adult’s well being.
So many questions to ask here, I don’t want to hijack this blog!!!!!!!! I’m just so sad and angry and I’m not even a parent! I hope somebody contacted the local school inspector.
In France too, children are still learning to write in cursive. My daughter even try fountain pen at home because she see me write with it. She’s almost for and I’m happy to share with her my love of handwriting with a fountainpen 🙂
I have a feeling it was more along the lines of “most of the children are still using manual script, and we haven’t taught cursive, yet, so stick with the program.” But, I do think it would be a terrible thing to stop learning, and teaching cursive. I also think the teacher could have been better about explaining why, rather than the terse note.
I am appalled at this stupid teacher. What a bully! A seven year old needs encouragement not this ignorant idiots thoughtless response. Mankind thrives
On learning skills, if we only learn that which is utilitarian, where will poets, writers and musicians come from.
This seems a manifold issue. The note left for this child is both unnecessary and ignorant. This teacher sounds like someone who should be working in a prison, not a school. “You have had several warnings”…? What is that? Sounds like brainwashing to my conspiratorial mind. I don’t care what the standard is; you don’t speak to a child like that unless they’re hurting themselves. Sounds to me like individuality, the backbone of the US, is being pressed out of children. If I had kids, there’s no way I’d put them in public school. The way the teachers teach and treat children is deplorable these days. They don’t teach them to think for themselves; they teach them to regurgitate the party line and suppress excellence so others don’t “feel bad”.
The US has been phasing out cursive for a while now, predicated on the so-called needlessness of the art of cursive. There are still places where a person needs to sign their name, so I don’t know what happens if you’ve never learned to do that (write an X?). Penmanship, in my grade school, was always its own course, with its own grade. It taught muscle memory, discipline, and other things besides just a pretty hand. The advent of computers has wiped out the need to write in cursive, in print–all of it. I consider myself fortunate to be part of a generation that knows how to do things both ways. If the grid is knocked out, I can still function. If these younger ones lose power, they don’t know what to do. Now they won’t be able to write, either.
Sorry for the rant, Janet. This subject sends my blood pressure through the roof.
This is very sad. Wow. My Papa taught me cursive the summer before first grade and the teachers marveled at the fact that not only had I learned it, but kept it up. I get that computers are the “wave of the future” or whatever, but to actually scold a child because of using cursive? That is crazy.
Yes, in my opinion it can be traced to “No Child Left Behind.” If I remember correctly, that ties school full ding to test scores. Teachers are pretty strictly tied down to the schedule set by the board of education. It’s really a pity.
It’s true. I first heard about cursive not being taught anymore earlier this summer on a Philofaxy Skype session. I heard it again just this past weekend. There is no time to teach in school anymore. In fact if they run over in lessons the first thing to go is snack time!
It’s such a shame. I love writing by hand. And I used to teach typing so my typing speed is 110 words a minute! But I still find information sticks better if I write by hand.
I’m lost for words. Seriously that child is forbidden to write her NAME (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) in whichever way s/he wants. You don’t do that to a child. You don’t do that to anyone, a name is the most personal identity we have. All I can hope is that this child is supported by family, other teachers and responsible adults, and hopefully, since the child has had “several warnings”, she has a strong personality.
I agree with @Clare Shepherd, this teacher is a bully, and sadly there’s nothing new there, I’m sure all of us knew at least one such failure of a human being while growing up. What they hope to accomplish is beyond me; I had the same reaction when I read Finland will actually ban handbooks and replace them with tablets. Handwriting has been scientifically proven as beneficial for a child’s development and an adult’s well being.
So many questions to ask here, I don’t want to hijack this blog!!!!!!!! I’m just so sad and angry and I’m not even a parent! I hope somebody contacted the local school inspector.
In France too, children are still learning to write in cursive. My daughter even try fountain pen at home because she see me write with it. She’s almost for and I’m happy to share with her my love of handwriting with a fountainpen 🙂
Perhaps we should ask – can the teacher read cursive?
I have a feeling it was more along the lines of “most of the children are still using manual script, and we haven’t taught cursive, yet, so stick with the program.” But, I do think it would be a terrible thing to stop learning, and teaching cursive. I also think the teacher could have been better about explaining why, rather than the terse note.
I am appalled at this stupid teacher. What a bully! A seven year old needs encouragement not this ignorant idiots thoughtless response. Mankind thrives
On learning skills, if we only learn that which is utilitarian, where will poets, writers and musicians come from.
This seems a manifold issue. The note left for this child is both unnecessary and ignorant. This teacher sounds like someone who should be working in a prison, not a school. “You have had several warnings”…? What is that? Sounds like brainwashing to my conspiratorial mind. I don’t care what the standard is; you don’t speak to a child like that unless they’re hurting themselves. Sounds to me like individuality, the backbone of the US, is being pressed out of children. If I had kids, there’s no way I’d put them in public school. The way the teachers teach and treat children is deplorable these days. They don’t teach them to think for themselves; they teach them to regurgitate the party line and suppress excellence so others don’t “feel bad”.
The US has been phasing out cursive for a while now, predicated on the so-called needlessness of the art of cursive. There are still places where a person needs to sign their name, so I don’t know what happens if you’ve never learned to do that (write an X?). Penmanship, in my grade school, was always its own course, with its own grade. It taught muscle memory, discipline, and other things besides just a pretty hand. The advent of computers has wiped out the need to write in cursive, in print–all of it. I consider myself fortunate to be part of a generation that knows how to do things both ways. If the grid is knocked out, I can still function. If these younger ones lose power, they don’t know what to do. Now they won’t be able to write, either.
Sorry for the rant, Janet. This subject sends my blood pressure through the roof.
I am pleased to report that my children’s wonderful integrated primary school here in Northern Ireland still teaches them to write in cursive script.
This is very sad. Wow. My Papa taught me cursive the summer before first grade and the teachers marveled at the fact that not only had I learned it, but kept it up. I get that computers are the “wave of the future” or whatever, but to actually scold a child because of using cursive? That is crazy.
Yes, in my opinion it can be traced to “No Child Left Behind.” If I remember correctly, that ties school full ding to test scores. Teachers are pretty strictly tied down to the schedule set by the board of education. It’s really a pity.
It’s true. I first heard about cursive not being taught anymore earlier this summer on a Philofaxy Skype session. I heard it again just this past weekend. There is no time to teach in school anymore. In fact if they run over in lessons the first thing to go is snack time!
It’s such a shame. I love writing by hand. And I used to teach typing so my typing speed is 110 words a minute! But I still find information sticks better if I write by hand.