Monday, April 18, 2011

Education ... Or is it?

In the world of modern education there is some good news and some bad news out there. 

Cursive Writing

Bad News: This form of writing has fallen into disuse. For some reason Americans have started printing. My local newspaper told me recently that a decision was pending about whether or not the teaching of Cursive Writing is going to be completely discontinued in the State of Georgia.

Don’t tell the “educators” making this decision but I think many of our schools have already taken this “progressive” step and have stopped teaching this antiquated subject. They probably replaced it with Multi-Cultural Dancing or Social Networking.

Since we are talking about jobs so much during our current dire economic situation, think about all the jobs that are being lost as cursive writing goes down the tubes due to the fact that Handwriting Experts are being given their pink slips every day.

Spelling

The next set of instruction that will be discontinued will be Spelling. It will be replaced by an attitude that says, Come as Close as You Can and Let Them Figure It Out.

Punctuation

Already gone is Punctuation. In the catalog where it used to be listed as a subject is a notation that says, “Punctuation was once considered a requirement but has fallen into disuse in recent years and is now seen for what it really is ... A waste of time and ink”.

Touch Typing

Touch Typing also used to be very important but it is now history. My two sons were steered towards Touch Typing classes by my wife. They probably took some guff from other boys for taking “a girl’s class” but they actually benefited from their mother’s foresight.

Good News: I have also read where there is a strong movement to put Touch Typing classes back into our teaching curriculum.

Bad News: The modern student is going to be taught to Touch Type using only his thumbs.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella