The Associated Press this week had an interesting article on the vanishing skill of cursive writing. It started with a report on a parent who was surprised to find that her eighth-grader did not know how to write her signature. The daughter explained that, aside from a few weeks of cursive writing in third grade, the school never made demands for that skill.

When the mother called the school, she was told that the daughter's report was on target. In part because of the emphasis on technology and computers, schools no longer pay much attention to cursive writing --or as it used to be termed "penmanship."

School officials see handwriting increasingly as something people do only when they need to make a note to themselves rather than communicate with others. They also claim that students accustomed to using computers to write at home have a hard time seeing the relevance of hours of practicing cursive handwriting.

The argument is not unreasonable. It's part of adapting to the times. But there are hazards in setting up skills so that we are fully dependent on the computer. There are many times and many places where computers will either not be available or not be functioning. Ironically, this applies to a majority of school work, where activities from taking notes to essay tests, are still done by hand. The ability to handwrite in those circumstances can be invaluable. And cursive writing is much faster than printing.

Furthermore, if taught properly, the learning of cursive writing does not take huge amounts of time. It is best done when the children are in the early grades when basic writing patterns are being established.

Basically, despite the technological changes we are experiencing, there is no real need to abandon a skill that is easy to acquire and can prove valuable throughout life. But given the direction in which schools are moving, it will be left to the parents to teach cursive writing--if they would like their children to maintain this very useful aspect of literacy.

Posted by Marion Blank at 06:07 PM
Read post | Comments (2)

The Washington Post today has an amazing story today. It starts as follows "Students starting school this year may be part of the last generation for which "going to college" means packing up, getting a dorm room and listening to tenured professors. Undergraduate education is on the verge of a radical reordering. ...The business model that sustained private U.S. colleges cannot survive."

The article then goes on to say that market forces are such that online classes, which are far less expensive than brick and mortar buildings, are going to become the model for future higher education.

The implications, if this comes to pass, are enormous. While the writer predicts that prestige universities will continue, online classes will be the norm and most colleges will disappear. "The new model of college will separate "the class" from "the college" as more and more web sites make it easy to take classes from a blend of different universities. Academic jobs will steadily vanish as "the typical 2030 faculty" becomes "a collection of adjuncts alone in their apartments, using recycled syllabuses and administering multiple-choice tests from afar."

It's difficult to envision change this vast. But that does not mean it will not come to pass. If you would like to delve further into this idea, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/11/AR2009091104312.html

Posted by Marion Blank at 11:54 PM
Read post | Comments (0)

The USA today reported the surprising, but uplifting, finding of a study of higher graduation rates. Many students may fail to complete a bachelor's degree not because the work is too hard — but because they're not challenged enough.

It's well known that colleges with the most selective admissions criteria tend to have the highest graduation rates. But even when researchers compared groups of students who had similar academic qualifications, they consistently found that those attending schools with the more demanding academic requirements were more likely to graduate.

The study is reported in a book titled Crossing the Finish Line:Completing College at America's Public Universities by William G. Bowen, Matthew M. Chingos & Michael S. McPherson. More information is available at http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8971.html

Posted by Marion Blank at 02:25 PM
Read post | Comments (0)

Years ago, when I was a graduate student, I was introduced to the writings of Korney Chukovsky, a Russian writer from the early 20th century, who explored children's language with love and devotion. His book "From Two to Five" is still an amazing read--if you want to both laugh and marvel at what young children accomplish in learning language. At the time he wrote, he was trying to halt the drive of the Russian leadership to get rid of fairy tales and related fantasy stories on the grounds that they defied the "realism" that the authorities were seeking.

Now it seems unbelievable but our nation is faced with a not dissimilar struggle where the authorities are denying outlets that are vital to children. In this case, it is play.

Supported by laws such as No Child Left Behind, recess and physical education (not to mention art and music instruction) have in many schools been cut back or eliminated. The message to children is that “playtime is over.”

In the words of Stuart Brown, founder and president of the National Institute for Play, .”Even if summer does not bring children a complete release from their over-organized, cell-phone-computer-TV-and-video-game-saturated lives, it does offer most a bit of free “goof-off” time – the sort that leads to physical activity and elective, self-organized play... Goof-off time shouldn’t be limited to summer vacation: it’s important all year."

For most American children in the not-so-distant past, “going out to play” was the norm. Today, according to a University of Michigan study, children spend 50 percent less time outside than they did just 20 years ago — and the 6.5 hours a day they spend with electronic media means that sitting in front of a screen has replaced going out.

Through the lens of play research, we can see that there is a direct line between play deficiencies and some frightening public health and social trends: tragic statistics for obesity, 4.5 million children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, an increase in childhood depression and classroom behavioral problems involving violence, and an inability to interact well with peers.

Just an hour a day of vigorous play — running, chasing, games like tag or dodge ball, and even dealing with or avoiding being excluded from these activities — can provide intense skill learning. Physical activity is known to lessen the symptoms of mild

Posted by Marion Blank at 05:14 PM
Read post | Comments (0)