Support NeoGAF

[Purkake4]

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.

I guess we have another Europe meets America/America meets Europe thread on our hand then.

And to keep blowing you mind, we learn to write capital letters and cursive, but we don't actually learn to write print.

 

[Keylime]

What? guess im fucked and should drop out of grad school now and all of my colleagues too. We are doomed. No PhDs for us.

I'm purely talking about a hypothetical world where kids are no longer taught cursive and are told they can't use a computer to write notes.

Not that you can't take notes with a computer or write them or whatever. In the hypothetical situation of a student who can't write script but isn't allowed to a use a computer, that kid is going to be extremely limited in their ability to scribe statements or thoughts or details.

That hypothetical situation sounds like it could be a reality for some folks in the near future if they've truly stopped teaching cursive, and teachers still have the mindset that laptops should not be allowed for notetaking in the classroom.

 

[Prez]

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

wtf?

 

[sankt-Antonio]

What? guess im fucked and should drop out of grad school now and all of my colleagues too. We are doomed. No PhDs for us.




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

well once you start with calculating there are only numbers and latin letters. but if i have things line lim(x). or log(x) i write them cursive

 

[MThanded]

I'm purely talking about a hypothetical world where kids are no longer taught cursive and are told they can't use a computer to write notes.

Not that you can't take notes with a computer or write them or whatever. In the hypothetical situation of a student who can't write script but isn't allowed to a use a computer, that kid is going to be extremely limited in their ability to scribe statements or thoughts or details.

That hypothetical situation sounds like it could be a reality for some folks in the near future if they've truly stopped teaching cursive, and teachers still have the mindset that laptops should not be allowed for notetaking in the classroom.

Most people i know write their notes, classwork and test answers in script. I learned cursive but for some reason I stopped using it at some point. Not sure when or how it happened.

well once you start with calculating there are only numbers and latin letters. but if i have things line lim(x). or log(x) i write then cursive

You write log and lim in cursive, what???? I have never seen this before in my life. Interesting.

 

[Hari Seldon]

In the hypothetical situation of a student who can't write script but isn't allowed to a use a computer, that kid is going to be extremely limited in their ability to scribe statements or thoughts or details.

That hypothetical situation sounds like it could be a reality for some folks in the near future if they've truly stopped teaching cursive, and teachers still have the mindset that laptops should not be allowed for notetaking in the classroom.

wtf are you talking about? I took notes just fine by hand using non-cursive my entire student career. Everyone else did too, because no one used a laptop in an engineering class when I went. You would have to be a god damn keyboard ninja to write math quickly on a laptop.

 

[MThanded]

wtf are you talking about? I took notes just fine by hand using non-cursive my entire student career. Everyone else did too, because no one used a laptop in an engineering class when I went. You would have to be a god damn keyboard ninja to write math quickly on a laptop.

Exactly.

 

[BocoDragon]

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.

That difficult transition period was my generation (in my country) and it was painless.

I actually do know how to write cursive.. As I said, they taught it to me briefly in grade school before they stopped forever. It just proved to be a useless skill: I never needed it. No one expected me to use cursive, which went hand in hand with them not teaching it anymore. It just disappeared. The younger generation, who never learned it, never knew they were missing anything.

In my country it faded 1990-1994 which was hand in hand with the extreme transition from black and white Apple IIs to CD-Rom to Internet. It was presumed that many things of the day would become obsolete and cursive fit right into that.

Obviously there were many classes that didn't have PCs and printing was just fine. Taking notes is really a college thing and PCs are always welcome there.

 

[VeritasVierge]

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

I don't think anybody is taking the "doomed" scenario seriously. More of a joke than anything but personally think it's a step backward if people don't learn to write well enough. Cursive or not. My handwriting has always been an odd mix of cursive and print as I found it's the best way to make my bad handwriting legible. I also think it's essential basic knowledge to learn to write with a pen or pencil in a way that's legible. Doesn't have to be cursive but that style is usually more aesthetically pleasing to people. What happens if the day comes and there is no computer present and you have to write something lengthy down?

It kind of reminds me how so many animators today rely a lot on computers and motion capture rather than their own skills with a pencil. I'm classically trained as an animator so the trend in 3D really bugs me (and how that shit makes Bob Zemeckis money).

 

[Keylime]

wtf are you talking about? I took notes just fine by hand using non-cursive my entire student career. Everyone else did too, because no one used a laptop in an engineering class when I went. You would have to be a god damn keyboard ninja to write math quickly on a laptop.

Math isn't written like words are.

How is a kid in class going to take notes about history at a fast enough pace to keep up with the lesson and still pay attention to what's going on? Fast typers can type as fast as they can talk...but people hand-writing notes probably can only go at a quarter of that speed.

I'm just saying that the whole point of cursive is to take fast notes, not that you can't take notes without writing in cursive...but surely you could agree that someone who is handwriting in print vs cursive vs typing are going to have dramatically different note taking abilities.

 

[morningbus]

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

I mean, I hate to be that guy, but I kind of need proof. Most signatures I've seen would fail a cursive proficiency exam.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Barack_Obama_signature.svg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/GeorgeWBush_Signature.svg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Signature_of_Bill_Clinton.svg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/George_HW_Bush_Signature.svg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Ronald_Reagan_Signature2.svg

Only Ronald Regan's is perfect.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Math isn't written like words are.

How is a kid in class going to take notes about history at a fast enough pace to keep up with the lesson and still pay attention to what's going on? Fast typers can type as fast as they can talk...but people hand-writing notes probably can only go at a quarter of that speed.

I'm just saying that the whole point of cursive is to take fast notes, not that you can't take notes without writing in cursive...but surely you could agree that someone who is handwriting in print vs cursive vs typing are going to have dramatically different note taking abilities.

I dunno, I never had problems writing fast enough in block letters even in my history classes. You have to learn to summarize and pull out the key points, not transcribe everything the professor is saying. Taking good notes is an art unto itself.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Isn't this old anyway?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=404351

 

[sankt-Antonio]

I mean, I hate to be that guy, but I kind of need proof. Most signatures I've seen would fail a cursive proficiency exam.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Barack_Obama_signature.svg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/GeorgeWBush_Signature.svg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Signature_of_Bill_Clinton.svg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/George_HW_Bush_Signature.svg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Ronald_Reagan_Signature2.svg

Only Ronald Regan's is perfect.

signatures =/= writing cursive, a signature can be a painted fish... etc.

edit:funny that this thread is now about cursive writing

 

[ConfusingJazz]

Math isn't written like words are.

How is a kid in class going to take notes about history at a fast enough pace to keep up with the lesson and still pay attention to what's going on? Fast typers can type as fast as they can talk...but people hand-writing notes probably can only go at a quarter of that speed.

I'm just saying that the whole point of cursive is to take fast notes, not that you can't take notes without writing in cursive...but surely you could agree that someone who is handwriting in print vs cursive vs typing are going to have dramatically different note taking abilities.

I thought there were studies that showed this thing about cursive being faster then print to be a load of hogwash.

 

[Zoator]

I don't know anyone who takes notes in cursive. Maybe it's just because of how often I write in printing, but I can print very quickly, and have never had any trouble keeping up with notes in any of my classes. On top of this, I find notes in printing to be much more legible when you actually go back to read them, and are more easily shared with other people who may not be so accustomed to another person's cursive chicken-scratch.

 

[Purkake4]

I don't know anyone who takes notes in cursive. Maybe it's just because of how often I write in printing, but I can print very quickly, and have never had any trouble keeping up with notes in any of my classes. On top of this, I find notes in printing to be much more legible when you actually go back to read them, and are more easily shared with other people who may not be so accustomed to another person's cursive chicken-scratch.

It's pretty obviously regional.

 

[morningbus]

signatures =/= writing cursive, a signature can be a painted fish... etc.

I was only talking about signatures back on that page. Someone had postulated on how one who doesn't know cursive would sign their signature.

 

[Zoator]

It's pretty obviously regional.

Of course, but the notion that people who write in printing are at a disadvantage is a broad generalization that simply does not hold.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

What's cursive?

 

[Purkake4]

Of course, but the notion that people who write in printing are at a disadvantage is a broad generalization that simply does not hold.

Never said it did.

 

[Dan]

I don't know anyone who takes notes in cursive. Maybe it's just because of how often I write in printing, but I can print very quickly, and have never had any trouble keeping up with notes in any of my classes. On top of this, I find notes in printing to be much more legible when you actually go back to read them, and are more easily shared with other people who may not be so accustomed to another person's cursive chicken-scratch.

Yup.

I was taught cursive in 2nd grade. By 5th grade no teacher wanted us to write cursive because it ends up illegible to everyone but, and possibly including, the one who wrote it.

 

[Keylime]

Never said it did.

I basically implied it.

I still don't see how someone being able to write notes faster than someone else doesn't directly mean they have the potential to be better note takers than people who write slower, though.

Faster = better...always. ALWAYS!

 

[BocoDragon]

I basically implied it.

I still don't see how someone being able to write notes faster than someone else doesn't directly mean they have the potential to be better note takers than people who write slower, though.

Faster = better...always. ALWAYS!

Yeah but think of all that time you wasted having to learn cursive? :lol

 

[Purkake4]

Yeah but think of all that time you wasted having to learn cursive? :lol

I made up for it by not learning to write print

 

[demon]

Deriding an entire population for abandoning cursive is like bitching someone out for using a different font than you do. Who gives a fuck? I can read cursive, I just don't write it because beyond 6th grade it was never expected of me, and by the time I got to college there were teachers who preferred students don't use it. Besides, my hand writing (especially speed-writing) is bad enough as it is.

 

[Gilgamesh]

Cursive? Who gives a shit?

 

[Alx]

I think most of the strong reactions about the lack of cursive knowledge comes from the fact that in places like Europe, it's the very first thing you learn at school. Cursive = "learning to write", so saying that you can't do that sounds like being illiterate, even if you have a good enough alternative with writing in print characters.

But just to correct one thing, cursive is not "a fancy writing method invented to write faster" (that would be stenography). Cursive is the original way to write, designed for the human hand, and existed before Gutenberg and the need for print characters...

 

[WillyFive]

All I see in the OP are just old guys complaining the younger generation lived in a different time when what they knew as a kid were different than when they were a kid themselves.

 

[Joel Was Right]

I think most of the strong reactions about the lack of cursive knowledge comes from the fact that in places like Europe, it's the very first thing you learn at school. Cursive = "learning to write", so saying that you can't do that sounds like being illiterate, even if you have a good enough alternative with writing in print characters.

But just to correct one thing, cursive is not "a fancy writing method invented to write faster" (that would be stenography). Cursive is the original way to write, designed for the human hand, and existed before Gutenberg and the need for print characters...

This is true. I remember being penalised in exams if my writing (cursive) wasn't up to scratch. If you didn't write in cursive, then you weren't really writing at all in the eyes of teachers. And when it became second nature to write this way, you would be rewarded/applauded. If anything this is a cultural argument than anything Now, anything but cursive writing is uncomfortable for me.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Math isn't written like words are.

How is a kid in class going to take notes about history at a fast enough pace to keep up with the lesson and still pay attention to what's going on? Fast typers can type as fast as they can talk...but people hand-writing notes probably can only go at a quarter of that speed.

I'm just saying that the whole point of cursive is to take fast notes, not that you can't take notes without writing in cursive...but surely you could agree that someone who is handwriting in print vs cursive vs typing are going to have dramatically different note taking abilities.

Do you write word for word what the professor is saying or something?

I took an art history class over the summer once(meaning a condensed semester time-wise with the same amount of info as any regular semester). This lady is big into art history and as such, is filled with immense amounts information about artifacts, geography, time period, etc. about many different pieces. The amount of information was staggering.

But I went to class with nothing more than a notebook and a pen and did just fine in getting all of the relevant information while not using cursive and did well on tests, etc. In fact in all of my history-related classes, I have done well without using cursive. I think emphasis in my schooling has been better overall note taking skills and being better at picking out relevant information rather than just brute force speed that may or may not be helped by using cursive.

 

[Gilgamesh]

How is a kid in class going to take notes about history at a fast enough pace to keep up with the lesson and still pay attention to what's going on? Fast typers can type as fast as they can talk...but people hand-writing notes probably can only go at a quarter of that speed.

I'm just saying that the whole point of cursive is to take fast notes, not that you can't take notes without writing in cursive...but surely you could agree that someone who is handwriting in print vs cursive vs typing are going to have dramatically different note taking abilities.

You shouldn't be copying down every word out of the professor's mouth anyway, bub.

 

[Woffls]

I was taught cursive when I was like 8 or something, and I could either write neatly or quickly, never both. Despite learning cursive, I STILL couldn't write quickly enough in exams for the next 14 years of education. That said, it's inherently quicker because of how the letters are joined together and because you don't lift your pen off the page that often. It takes a lot of discipline to write neatly in cursive, unless I'm utterly useless.

These days, I keep a pen on my desk somewhere for the occasional signature and go through a keyboard every year :lol

 

[sankt-Antonio]

what i get from this page:
people using,
cursive = faster at taking notes
print = better at taking notes

 

[HamPster PamPster]

Proof that cursive sucks

http://www.lettersofnote.com/

Look at some of those letters, they are impossible to read

 

[Keylime]

what i get from this page:
people using,
cursive = faster at taking notes
print = better at taking notes

People that don't use cursive are making up lies and we all know it.

WE ALL KNOW IT! FESS UP!

 

[VeritasVierge]

All I see in the OP are just old guys complaining the younger generation lived in a different time when what they knew as a kid were different than when they were a kid themselves.

Who are you calling "old"?

 

[besada]

But just to correct one thing, cursive is not "a fancy writing method invented to write faster" (that would be stenography). Cursive is the original way to write, designed for the human hand, and existed before Gutenberg and the need for print characters...

That's not strictly accurate. The original methods of writing were cuneiform and involved non-connected letters, as do most early written languages. Cursive didn't come along until the invention of paper, because it was useless before then.

 

[Calantus]

my hand writing is already terrible, i'd hate to see a whole page of my cursive.

 

[Alx]

That's not strictly accurate. The original methods of writing were cuneiform and involved non-connected letters, as do most early written languages. Cursive didn't come along until the invention of paper, because it was useless before then.

If you want to get to older methods, it's true, but that's also because it was more adapted to the way people used to write : engraving into stone, wood or wax tablets. Simple, disjointed letters were easier to make with a few strikes/press.
But things changed when we got to spreading ink on paper...