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[Yaweee]

Looks like the OP... was being watched.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

It's pretty funny how this stupid Readers Digest-style article brought out some funny prejudices immediately... Youth are dumb... America must be dumb..

This list says nothing about youth in the slightest. It's a reminder to old people that stuff they remember as happening recently is actually so old that an entire generation has grown up with it.

very first sentence is this.

"Most young Americans entering university this year can't write in cursive, think email is too slow, that Beethoven's a dog and Michelangelo a computer virus, according to an annual list compiled by two academics at a US college."

easy to jump to conclusions after reading that + thread title.

 

[Wiseblade]

Does ANYONE reeeeally think the results would be substantially different in, say, Europe?

As a first year English student, yes. They'd be so different it hurts.

 

[Fularu]

Does ANYONE reeeeally think the results would be substantially different in, say, Europe?

Of course or are you that deluded?

 

[BocoDragon]

very first sentence is this.

"Most young Americans entering university this year can't write in cursive, think email is too slow, that Beethoven's a dog and Michelangelo a computer virus, according to an annual list compiled by two academics at a US college."

easy to jump to conclusions after reading that + thread title.

They don't know cursive, not because kids today are just so fucking dumb... It's because they stopped teaching it in schools after the rise of computers.

You're not supposed to draw the conclusion that youth are morons... It's for old people who remember cursive writing being relevant to realize that an entire generation has grown up since it wasn't.

That's all this is: remember that new development from 20 years ago? To kids it's normal. You're old!

 

[Joel Was Right]

Because it seemed like the guy actually did work like giving out a survey to all the freshman entering Beloit College, and was more a statement about the educational system in America then about the cultural changes in the US.

Instead, the guy just copy and pasted everything from the 1992 article on Wikipedia. Interesting to think about? Yes. Was the title misleading to blatant lie? Yes.

I'll be honest, I did not expect this reaction. If I had known the context of the OP and the list in itself, which is explained in the OP as nothing serious, would be lost to people's sensitivities I would have chosen a more accurate title to make the nature of the OP more clear. It's essentially a joke list made for fun. It's not and never intended to be a scientific study. Anyway, I apologised for the misunderstanding in the previous page.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

They don't know cursive, not because kids today are just so fucking dumb... It's because they stopped teaching it in schools after the rise of computers.

You're not supposed to draw the conclusion that youth are morons... It's for old people who remember cursive writing being relevant to realize that an entire generation has grown up since it wasn't.

That's all this is: remember that new development from 20 years ago? To kids it's normal. You're old!

i think you misunderstood my post. i just pointed out why/how some could come to that conclusion, not that it is right.

 

[Keylime]

They don't know cursive, not because kids today are just so fucking dumb... It's because they stopped teaching it in schools after the rise of computers.

How are they going to sign for stuff if they don't know cursive!

 

[VeritasVierge]

How are they going to sign for stuff if they don't know cursive!

You beat me to what I was going to ask. Surely signatures are still relevant to everyday life.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

You beat me to what I was going to ask. Surely signatures are still relevant to everyday life.

Name: XXX

I guess there's no reason why your signature has to be cursive, but I don't think someone would really accept your signature if your just wrote your name down.

...why teach kids how to write at all if you aren't going to teach them cursive?!

MADNESS!

a signature can be whatever you want it to be, you just have to stay with it.
at least in germany.

As an aside, I may truly be the last generation that learned cursive in my country.. They taught it to me in grade 1, then stopped.

thats kind of sad

 

[Mr. Sam]

My signature doesn't employ cursive, frighteningly, even though I know it.

 

[Jzero]

:lol this is making America look even worse

 

[Keylime]

I guess there's no reason why your signature has to be cursive, but I don't think someone would really accept your signature if your just wrote your name down.

...why teach kids how to write at all if you aren't going to teach them cursive?!

MADNESS!

 

[BocoDragon]

How are they going to sign for stuff if they don't know cursive!

That's like asking.. How can I order sushi if I don't know Japanese?

Kids today learn one word (their name) in pseudo-cursive and that's good enough.

As an aside, I may truly be the last generation that learned cursive in my country.. They taught it to me in grade 1, then stopped.

 

[Woffls]

Signatures don't even need to be your name. Mine looks more like a fish than my name.

 

[besada]

Or they just have a non-cursive signature, like me.

 

[Prez]

Cursive is worthless anyways. One of those antiquated ideas that keep getting passed down in the education system that should be replaced with learning a 2nd language.

Seems like a load of bull anyways.

I don't get it. What is the usual handwriting in the US then? We only write in cursive.

 

[BocoDragon]

I don't get it. What is the usual handwriting in the US then? We only write in cursive.

Hand printing and computers.

Cursive was only invented to write fast.. These days we have keyboards to write fast.

 

[Keylime]

I guess I'm mainly just saying why even teach kids how to write at all if you aren't going to teach them cursive.

Not teaching kids cursive is like saying you will always be able to take notes with a computer when you want to, as writing notes in print would take WAY too freaking long. That's the whole point of teaching cursive, isn't it? Note taking?

I know there are currently teachers that will not allow students to type notes due to worries of wandering minds...so what will these kids do?

Sounds like the future is fucked! STRAIGHT UP BORKED! EVACUATE!

 

[VeritasVierge]

Name: XXX

Signatures don't even need to be your name. Mine looks more like a fish than my name.

Points well taken. When I was learning to write cursive back in the early 80s, seemed people were frowned upon whenever they signed in print. so I just assumed it was more of a formal thing that would never change. You guys are right that it just doesn't matter anymore.

 

[ZZMitch]

I don't get it. What is the usual handwriting in the US then? We only write in cursive.

It looks kind of like this.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

Hand printing and computers.

Cursive was only invented to write fast.. These days we have keyboards to write fast.

your fucked as a student if you cant write fast at an exam.
or do you have multiple choice exams?

 

[Prez]

Hand printing and computers.

Cursive was only invented to write fast.. These days we have keyboards to write fast.

Still don't get it. So you're saying for the past 20 years students in primary and secondary school have been writing their notes, filling in their diaries and tests/exams either in block letters or on computers?

 

[BocoDragon]

^ Yes.

I guess I'm mainly just saying why even teach kids how to write at all if you aren't going to teach them cursive.

Not teaching kids cursive is like saying you will always be able to take notes with a computer when you want to, as writing notes in print would take WAY too freaking long. That's the whole point of teaching cursive, isn't it? Note taking?

I know there are currently teachers that will not allow students to type notes due to worries of wandering minds...so what will these kids do?

Sounds like the future is fucked! STRAIGHT UP BORKED! EVACUATE!

Seen a college class lately? Everyone has laptops.

Those who print can usually keep up.

 

[Keylime]

This thread is making me think that at some point in my lifetime, there are going to be school going kids who have no idea how to pick up a pencil or pen and use it to write words.

...not saying that this shouldn't happen...just saying that it's freaky.

Seen a college class lately? Everyone has laptops.

Those who print can usually keep up.

I'm saying some teachers strictly forbid laptops in their classes still.

 

[BocoDragon]

I'm saying some teachers strictly forbid laptops in their classes still.

Not here they don't.

Also, even as far back as 2000 I have been to many classes which had rows of computers.

 

[VeritasVierge]

I guess I'm mainly just saying why even teach kids how to write at all if you aren't going to teach them cursive.

Not teaching kids cursive is like saying you will always be able to take notes with a computer when you want to, as writing notes in print would take WAY too freaking long. That's the whole point of teaching cursive, isn't it? Note taking?

I know there are currently teachers that will not allow students to type notes due to worries of wandering minds...so what will these kids do?

Sounds like the future is fucked! STRAIGHT UP BORKED! EVACUATE!

:lol I still have a couple school notebooks lying around from junior high (early 90s) and I really can't imagine me taking notes like that ever again when I've been using a laptop almost nonstop for that stuff since the late 90s. The future is borked if we can't even picture ourselves doing such basic skills anymore. (not to emntion how I could only attribute cursive writing to signatures) :\

 

[Hari Seldon]

I graduated in 2003 from college and I was never in a class that anyone had a laptop in. I wouldn't want a laptop, you need to be able to draw and just typing shit would be terrible for taking notes.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

I'm saying some teachers strictly forbid laptops in their classes still.

not only this, but at exams laptops are a no go.
i mean how do they prevent people going online? or share stuff over wlan bluetooth etc.

 

[morningbus]

1) Look, I say this as a European (who's been mostly raised in the U.S.): some of you fucking Europeans are as obnoxious and deluded as anything I've encountered from the extreme right wing in this country. People are more or less the same wherever you go.

2) Some of you still use perfect cursive when signing your signature? I know how to write in cursive, but I use some weird mix of cursive, print, and who-knows-what when I sign for stuff.

 

[BocoDragon]

Lol looks like this cursive issue really brought out the NEW GENERATION AM DOOMED sentiment.

The last time I learned cursive here in Canada was around the first gulf war.. Deal with it :lol

 

[MThanded]

 

[sankt-Antonio]

2) Some of you still use perfect cursive when signing your signature? I know how to write in cursive, but I use some weird mix of cursive, print, and who-knows-what when I sign for stuff.

to be honest it bends my mind right now that people write with anything else then cursive.

 

[MThanded]

to be honest it bends my mind right now that people write with anything else then cursive.

joke post. No one I know writes in cursive. There are too many variations and its a lot harder for people to read. Books are not written in a cursive font.

I'm glad no professors I know and none of my fellow grad students write in cursive it would be a pain to decipher.

Once I entered college the amount of people that I knew that wrote cursive dropped sharply. When I went to grad school that number went to effectively 0. Maybe this is an engineering/math thing.

 

[Yaweee]

Still don't get it. So you're saying for the past 20 years students in primary and secondary school have been writing their notes, filling in their diaries and tests/exams either in block letters or on computers?

The timeline is a bit more complicated.

Students entering college are ~18 years old. Students would normally start learning cursive in 2nd grade (if I recall correctly), or when they are 7~8 years old, placing them learning cursive for the first time around the year 2000. So it is only having used it at all for the last ten years, not 20.

But it isn't about whether or not they learn it. It is about whether or not they use it enough to retain and develop it so it is both fast enough and legible enough to justify using. Most people I know (25~28 years old) can barely write cursive any more even after spending years expected to use it exclusively on school assignments, because it eventually just fell out of practice. Typing has become commonplace, printing is more widely legible, while cursive gets the short stick.

 

[CrayzeeCarl]

All the quotes and statistics like "75% of American teenagers don't know their address" and "6 out of 10 teenagers don't know how to spell their name", etc. are total bullshit. They're just sensationalist tripe passed around between old, grumpy fucks to use as bitching material. If these statements were really true, these college grads wouldn't get hired.

Spoiler

I know they're not getting hired now, nobody is. But when the economy picks up, it will be back to normal.

Here, I'll sum up the list for everyone:

Spoiler

I'm teaching every 8-year-old relative to say this, and every 14-year-old to do the same thing with Toy Story. Also, Pokemon hit the US over a decade ago and kids born after Aladdin came out will turn 18 next year

Stupid adults!

I have never understood why that statement is supposed to be "scary." What am I missing? It might be shocking to realize that much time has gone by, but scary as in legitimately frightening? Why?

 

[Purkake4]

Is the lack of cursive another weird American thing? It is still taught from first grade onward 'round these parts...

 

[Scalemail Ted]

This study doesn't seem very reliable

 

[Keylime]

Lol looks like this cursive issue really brought out the NEW GENERATION AM DOOMED sentiment.

I'm not serious when I say the future generations are doomed, but it does sound like there is going to be an awkward period of transition when there are students that can't take notes properly without a computer, but are asked to due to legacy rules and traditions or something.

Just imagine a world where the Matrix is real and you can download knowledge...what's the point of schools? Will we have walking/talking newborns? Do we all just become communists by default? Will there be a much stronger focus on the arts?

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

 

[Macho Madness]

to be honest it bends my mind right now that people write with anything else then cursive.

I was taught both print and cursive, with print being taught first. Because it was taught first, it's what I and most people feel comfortable with. I can write in perfect cursive, but it just feels more natural to do it in print. Or hell, I'll just type it.

 

[Dan]

Cursive is just an archaic practice passed on by one generation to the next as punishment for themselves having to learn that bullshit.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

joke post. No one I know writes in cursive. There are too many variations and its a lot harder for people to read. Books are not written in a cursive font.

I'm glad no professors I know and none of my fellow grad students write in cursive it would be a pain to decipher.

all my professors write cursive, i dont know a single student who is not writing cursive.

Cursive is just an archaic practice passed on by one generation to the next as punishment for themselves having to learn that bullshit.[/QUO
fast cursive writing saved my ass so many times... its not even funny

 

[ZZMitch]

to be honest it bends my mind right now that people write with anything else then cursive.

I had no idea that anyone did write in cursive as their main form of writing...

 

[Macho Madness]

all my professors write cursive, i dont know a single student who is not writing cursive.

you ... hand-write... things?

 

[MThanded]

all my professors write cursive, i dont know a single student who is not writing cursive.

Are you a liberal arts major? Maybe this is much more of a trend in engineering, math and math based sciences.

I makes a lot less sense to mix numbers and cursive.

 

[CrayzeeCarl]

I'm not serious when I say the future generations are doomed, but it does sound like there is going to be an awkward period of transition when there are students that can't take notes properly without a computer, but are asked to due to legacy rules and traditions or something.

Just imagine a world where the Matrix is real and you can download knowledge...what's the point of schools? Will we have walking/talking newborns? Do we all just become communists by default? Will there be a much stronger focus on the arts?

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Why are so many people incapable of taking notes by hand in print? It's not that hard.

 

[Keylime]

Why are so many people incapable of taking notes by hand in print? It's not that hard.

We're talking about kids who are never taught how to write in cursive, so their ability to take detailed notes will be extremely limited.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Is the lack of cursive another weird American thing? It is still taught from first grade onward 'round these parts...

Well I'm sure the nuns probably still teach it in Catholic schools if that makes you feel better. :lol Every catholic school graduate I ever met could write beautiful cursive.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

Are you a liberal arts major? Maybe this is much more of a trend in engineering, math and math based sciences.

I makes a lot less sense to mix numbers and cursive.

yes, engineering.

you ... hand-write... things?

every god damn exam. and everyting the prof. writes on his table.

 

[MThanded]

We're talking about kids who are never taught how to write in cursive, so their ability to take detailed notes will be extremely limited.

What? Guess i'm fucked and should drop out of grad school now and all of my colleagues too. We are doomed. No PhDs for us.

yes, engineering.

a board full of numbers and cursive makes little to no sense to me. and it gets messy real fast.