Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.
Reading is being heavily cut out, now writing as well. Arithmetic is still there, though the level is dropping.
Honestly, what idiot actually thinks we've phased writing out SO MUCH that it can be dropped from school curriculums? I use it most days in leisure time alone.
If nothing else, you have a bunch of people who can't even sign their names. Not to mention takes tests, write essays on paper...this is so absurd.
Dr. Scott Hamilton is an idiot, and I bet he writes daily.
U.S. Schools Drop Handwriting Requirement: Sensible or Foolish?
SodaHead News
2011/07/13 13:36:10
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Indiana is the latest U.S. state to drop a handwriting requirement from their curriculum, citing that there simply isn't enough time to teach both handwriting and basic typing skills.
But some would argue there is a direct link between the way people learn and writing. And then there is the obvious:
It's a fair question, do you think it's sensible to drop handwriting from our children's school curriculum?
Under the core standards - which were released in June 2010 and have been adopted by nearly all U.S. states - there is no requirement for them to [teach handwriting].
Dr Scott Hamilton, an Indiana clinical psychologist, said the time children spend labouring over script could be better used: "From an intuitive standpoint, this makes sense, based on the increasingly digital world into which this generation of children is growing up."
But some would argue there is a direct link between the way people learn and writing. And then there is the obvious:
"How are [children] supposed to know how to sign their names?”
It's a fair question, do you think it's sensible to drop handwriting from our children's school curriculum?
Read More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14121541
Top Opinion
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Kigan 2011/07/13 16:34:48
Brick-and-mortar schools will go the way of the dodo, unless something changes drastically.
Let's not be this 'foolish'.
You *do* remember taking notes, don't you? Or is that obsolete now, too?
Just like an abacus *could* be extremely useful, if taught correctly, in understanding the fundamental principles behind basic mathematics. These days, teachers seem to be totally focused on just teaching procedures instead of explaining "why." Which leaves them horribly handicapped when it comes to understanding higher mathematics where the "why" becomes important.
You have to lay a solid foundation before you can start putting in the stained glass windows.
They can barely be scribbled down in cursive.
If you're impressed now with the math that kids are learning...I can only hope that they're learning better lessons than I've been told about.
Does anyone else fear we may move into a sci-fi situation, where people eventually are tied to mobile or home computers, and all interactions done via the machine. Then, when system breaks down, only the writers are able to do much. A bit like middle ages, when the ordinary people could not write, and only the educated could. A peasant would take a written message from an educated person to another, and the reply back - the common people marvelled. Some superstitious dopes thought it was magic - those marks on the paper or vellum meaning things - wow! Some thought them magicians, and this is where the word "Spell" comes from --- just an uneducated person ascribing magical powers to an easily - learned understandable system. We still use the word now, but it has ...
Does anyone else fear we may move into a sci-fi situation, where people eventually are tied to mobile or home computers, and all interactions done via the machine. Then, when system breaks down, only the writers are able to do much. A bit like middle ages, when the ordinary people could not write, and only the educated could. A peasant would take a written message from an educated person to another, and the reply back - the common people marvelled. Some superstitious dopes thought it was magic - those marks on the paper or vellum meaning things - wow! Some thought them magicians, and this is where the word "Spell" comes from --- just an uneducated person ascribing magical powers to an easily - learned understandable system. We still use the word now, but it has mostly come to mean correctly putting the right letters in each word. One of our contributors has misspelt some words while commenting, so there is a need for eduation in it now.
We need a new type of dictionary - the mad thing now is that you need to know how the word is spelled roughly, in order to find it in the dictionary - be good if you could say the word, and it appears, correctly spelt, on a screen before you, with the definition
As far as the dictionary...better by far if people knew roughly how to spell whatever they were looking for in the first place. Or knew how to look it up in a thesaurus.
Then again, I have to admit that spell-checking makes it *so* easy...except for heterographs, of course.
In fact I would have to say all the people who commented without reading the article or even bothering to check the real facts, shows more about our society then the plan to drop cursive.
The same goes for everyone who has tried to blame a political party for the idea... it goes to show how our education system has done up to this point...
What's next, no more spelling test? History class outlawed country wide?
I guess a dumber society is easier to control and manipulate than an intelligent one. This way you can get robbed blind by the government but yet be so dumb you don't care, and actually think its a good thing.
If you click on the link at the bottom of the article, the first thing you'll notice is that they're talking about cursive. Not print handwriting, but cursive.... and while I would have loved to not have had to learn cursive in 4th grade, I know now that learning cursive was a good thing.
If you don't know the basics of cursive, how will you sign your name? How will you be able to read something that is written in cursive?
Learning cursive sucks. It does. No "if"s, "and"s or "but"s about it. But knowing cursive is a whole lot better than not knowing cursive. What are they going to do when it comes to signing you name? Have a special class(in which you only know how to sign your name and no other letters)for that?