The Death of Cursive... Almost!

So John asked me whether or not I saw a piece on the morning news yesterday about how a number of states are nixing cursive from the school curriculum. Well, I did - and I remember thinking that it was sad, (because any form of handwriting can be so pretty), but that it made total sense.

I think it's absurd that our schools still operate the way they do. Teaching cursive to children when virtually nobody writes anything by hand anymore? Just plain silly. What a waste of time. No wonder we're falling behind education-wise in contrast to other countries. We're still insisting on teaching our kids in precisely the same manner they did a hundred years ago, (oh... except I believe many schools have eliminated or reduced Phys. Ed. classes even though our children are now obese). It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Why are we forcing children who excel in English, but who perform dismally in Math and Science to continue learning those subjects above and beyond the basics? For example, why does any high schooler who has consistently performed poorly in math have to take more math courses regardless of the fact that he/she may have already decided to go to college for something that will never, ever require advanced math skills? And, it doesn't end there. Some colleges still require that students take math courses as part of their core curriculum as well. In fact, I was subjected to this torture at NYU, where, as a Liberal Arts student in the College of Arts and Sciences, I had to take this ridiculously difficult math course called Quantitative Reasoning. Okay, I didn't HAVE to, but if I wanted to avoid even MORE math courses, that was the ONLY way out. So, I mustered my way through it, but I BARELY passed. In fact, the vast majority of the students who took it failed.

Can someone please tell me what the point of that was? The course consisted of the most complicated word problems I'd ever encountered in my life. By the time I finished reading one, I had to read it about 3 - 5 more times before I could even begin to wrap my head around it and I remember thinking that I could not come up with one reason as to why I needed that course. I knew I would never be involved in any type of career where such complicated math problems would relate.

Anyway, my point is that our education system SUCKS and we're all still paying for it. I realize there's no chance in the world that our education system will ever go private, but since we're stuck with public education, I think it's high time that they FIX IT already. The fact that cursive is still a requirement in any schools is positively ludicrous.

Look, I'm not a teacher, or a parent, but I think anyone can look at the way our schools still operate and say that a lot needs to change if our children are going to remain competitive.

Why can't parents, teachers and school counselors start teaching kids more important life skills in school - and try to hone in on childrens' best skill sets, (particularly once they've hit high school), to at least attempt to guide them to a better career path based on their particular skills, interests, etc.? Why aren't there shop or home ec classes anymore? What if that's precisely what a child was meant to do as opposed to learning European History? Speaking of which, I took AP European History in High School - and ALL I remember was that my teacher, Lance Tapper enjoyed showing us Bugs Bunny Cartoons to teach us about the great composers, (that part was cool), but ask me any trivia style question about what transpired in European History, and I can pretty much guarantee that I won't know the answer. For whatever reason, I didn't retain a single thing, despite the fact that I believe I earned an A in that class and received college credit. Does this make me an idiot? If I hadn't learned history would I be doomed to repeat it? Somehow I don't think so.

The funny thing about the news story was that the anchors discussing it noted that a handful of states have eliminated cursive thus far - California, (where the anchors were), had not.