Penmanship a Lost Art??

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GregHaugen

Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
89
Location
Chaseburg, WI.
I know this may seem like a rant, for that I apologize. I just came across this article and was rather shocked by it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090919/ap_on_re_us/us_cursive_angst

It's bad when kids lose the music and shop classes from their schools but now they're cutting back or closely eliminating penmanship due to the use of computers.

Is the "pen and paper" going to be something of the past?

What do you think about this?
 
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I was more than a little pissed at my daughter's school. They did away with any kind of trade skill classes. Very little art, crafts, etc. All in favor of computers.

Last year they put up a new bond measure that was shot down, so in punishment for voting against it, the district is shorting the schools on the computers. It's up to the PTO and Dad's Club to come up with the money.

I get sick of this crap. They tax the @#$% out of the residents then beg for more? Want me to pay more taxes? Put an auto shop in the high school! Put a welding class in! Maybe a construction and engineering class!

grumblegrumble GET OFF MY LAWN grumble grumble...

*waves walker at annoying kids.
 
I home schooled all three of my children. I can't really share my opinions of the school "System" and the methods they use here. There are simply way to much of them. But in a nut shell. Parents teach their children most of what they will ever really know well. and not once do they set there children at a desk expect them to set still and pay attention for hours on end, and use a chalk board to try and convey information. When you think about that method alone for a while it starts to sound pretty stupid.
Basically I think the school system is a convenience to parents that are to busy doing anything but raising children.
As for computers, yes I believe that today it is more important for a child to be able to type on a keyboard than to write, at least in the eyes of the school system that is.
 
As for Greg's questions, yes, I believe penmanship is rapidly vanishing.
When my daughter was in grade school, they taught penmanship for one year, I forget what grade. She demonstrated an exceptionally beautiful hand. But that one year was it and her skills not only never developed but vanished.
Daniel, I strongly disagree. A child and it's parents make what they want of educational opportunities. Public schools give a rounded experience and, most importantly, social skills. Every home schooled child I have ever seen has been seriously deprived of developing social skills.
 
We did some repairs on a ladies car at the shop where I worked , and she was so happy with the work , she sent us a hand written Thank You card , written in a pretty shade of green ink with a Fountain pen . She was receiving Kemo treatments at the time , but had a wonderful attitude , and was very friendly . Her writing was a form of art , I wish I could share with everyone . The card was destroyed in a fire , and she has since lost her battle with cancer . It is a shame , she must have devoted alot of time and effort to perfecting her skill .
 
Rifleman1776 said:
Every home schooled child I have ever seen has been seriously deprived of developing social skills.
Click to expand...

You make it sound as if the only place children ever learn these
skills is at school. That sounds to me like a much larger problem
for society as a whole..
 
I am disappointed in some of the education process in our school system, but overall I find it far superior to home schooling. Very few parents have all of the skills to teach children and provide a well-rounded education.

If a parent uses incorrect grammar, the home schooled(?) child will do the same. From what I have seen over the years, many home schooled children are simply given a curriculum from a web site and told to follow that, often largely on their own.

Also, having grown up in the woods, so to speak, I had never been around any one but family until I started school. I had a very rough time learning to be around other children. Had I been home schooled, I would have had an extremely tough time learning to develop social skills at a much older age than the first grade.

In my never humble opinion, the only real advantage of home schooling a child is that they will be the valedictorian of their class.
 
My son has bad ADHD and we tried home schooling for a year. I think it's something that needs to be looked at from the perspective of what's best for the child. As every child and every parent is different there's no way to generalize public schools or home schooling.

In our situation we found my son's need for social interaction outside of family to be drastically more important than our higher patience level for an inattentive student. So we put him back into the system and spent about as much time fighting for him with the administration as we did teaching him. But he was better for it.

I don't think the failings of the public school system are going to be easily corrected. The districts (rightly) listen to parents desires for curriculum for their kids. Unfortunately, the parents don't know what is best for the kids very often, and instead depend on "experts". Your expert is my idiot. And it works both ways.

I'd rather teach kids what to do when there IS no internet, than teach them to depend on it.
 
Penmanship skills have been declining for some time now! My 40yo niece writes like a 3rd grader.

I've taken up a task, in my neighborhood . . . I've made quill pens for kids in my neighborhood when they look like they're old enough to write. Dress it up with some paper and "share the art of penmanship."

Nowdays, I think its going to take parents, relatives & friends spending time to help kids discover "the art" all over again. Some of my best memories come from a school desk with an inkwell.
 
For me penmanship is not a lost art - because I never gained it. When I was in 3rd grade, they split the class at one point between students who could listen to storytelling in the afternoon, and those who had to practice penmanship. I found out when I inadvertantly (and incorrectly) stayed on the storytelling side one day. In high school drafting class, I learned to block print, but that's about the best I can do.

As far as home schooling goes, I do know some people for whom it worked better than public school could (and some the other way around). My opinion has always been that the best result comes from sending children to school AND teaching them at home. There's no reason the two have to be exclusive.

Regards,
Eric
 
Put the blame on Mr. Bic ....By making a skinny pen plastic throwaway pen that has to be held so tight that if you look at the average person writing with a Bic you will see that their nails have the blood circulation cut off and turn white as they write. This in turn makes them press to write and you just can't have a flowing penmanship when your pressing to write. I have customers look at my pens and comment that they are beautiful but way to big and heavy. At that point I whip out a bic and say is this what you write with? The answer is always something like yes or Oh no I use a slim Cross. I then have them write with their pen and point out their holding the pen so tight that their nails have lost circulation and now I hold a Jr. Gent or Statesman Roller ball by the top and have it barley touch the paper and slide it across the paper and it will write a nice line , then have them do the same. Then have them try doing it with their pen and their pen never writes as it has no weight to place a line on the paper. Not saying that I sell all who try this but I have put the thought in their mind that a Bic will destroy their penmanship as well as cause cramps when writing. In Japan and Europe all of the better pens are larger pens and the children are taught to use them properly but we have become a throwaway society.
 
OKLAHOMAN said:
Put the blame on Mr. Bic ....By making a skinny pen plastic throwaway pen that has to be held so tight that if you look at the average person writing with a Bic you will see that their nails have the blood circulation cut off and turn white as they write. This in turn makes them press to write and you just can't have a flowing penmanship when your pressing to write. I have customers look at my pens and comment that they are beautiful but way to big and heavy. At that point I whip out a bic and say is this what you write with? The answer is always something like yes or Oh no I use a slim Cross. I then have them write with their pen and point out their holding the pen so tight that their nails have lost circulation and now I hold a Jr. Gent or Statesman Roller ball by the top and have it barley touch the paper and slide it across the paper and it will write a nice line , then have them do the same. Then have them try doing it with their pen and their pen never writes as it has no weight to place a line on the paper. Not saying that I sell all who try this but I have put the thought in their mind that a Bic will destroy their penmanship as well as cause cramps when writing. In Japan and Europe all of the better pens are larger pens and the children are taught to use them properly but we have become a throwaway society.
Click to expand...

Kind of like your "ex" ??????:biggrin::biggrin:
 
OKLAHOMAN said:
Put the blame on Mr. Bic ....By making a skinny pen plastic throwaway pen that has to be held so tight that if you look at the average person writing with a Bic you will see that their nails have the blood circulation cut off and turn white as they write. This in turn makes them press to write and you just can't have a flowing penmanship when your pressing to write. I have customers look at my pens and comment that they are beautiful but way to big and heavy. At that point I whip out a bic and say is this what you write with? The answer is always something like yes or Oh no I use a slim Cross. I then have them write with their pen and point out their holding the pen so tight that their nails have lost circulation and now I hold a Jr. Gent or Statesman Roller ball by the top and have it barley touch the paper and slide it across the paper and it will write a nice line , then have them do the same. Then have them try doing it with their pen and their pen never writes as it has no weight to place a line on the paper. Not saying that I sell all who try this but I have put the thought in their mind that a Bic will destroy their penmanship as well as cause cramps when writing. In Japan and Europe all of the better pens are larger pens and the children are taught to use them properly but we have become a throwaway society.
Click to expand...

I guess I'm older than all you guys... we were NOT allowed to use a ball point pen in my high school... Think they were just coming into vogue anyway. Any paper turned in that was written with a BP was immediately failed and returned to the student.
I was taught penmanship in grammar school... don't think it took though... my writing looks like a spastic chicken has been scratching on the paper...nowadays, if I want someone to be able to read my writings and musings, I use a keyboard.
 
Chuck,your right your much older than most here. That was way before my time as I'm 3 days younger than you.:wink::biggrin::rolleyes:Happy belated b'day.
TellicoTurning said:
I guess I'm older than all you guys... we were NOT allowed to use a ball point pen in my high school... Think they were just coming into vogue anyway. Any paper turned in that was written with a BP was immediately failed and returned to the student.
I was taught penmanship in grammar school... don't think it took though... my writing looks like a spastic chicken has been scratching on the paper...nowadays, if I want someone to be able to read my writings and musings, I use a keyboard.
Click to expand...
 
In 7th grade the teachers got together and decided that I would no longer cursive write. Just wasn't readable. And I tried! Took Typing class and never looked back. When the age of the computer came. WOW! Finding out I was dyslexic later on probably had much to do with my penmanship.

Did you know though, back in the beginning of the U.S. your penmanship often determined your character and probably what you would do in life.
 
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