Mrs. Robb doesn't want to teach our daughter to write using pen and paper.

OK, she's almost there. :D

Her argument is that penmanship will be a useless skill, that keyboarding (what we used to call "typing," apparently) will dominate everything, and we'll never need to even leave a note, much less write a letter.

I argued what do you do when the power's out?

She argued that batteries and what-not will make such things impossible in 15-20 years.

I said, what about emergency skills? Like making a fire, or weaving a fishing net (two things I'm quite proud of my prowess at)?

She acquiesced it could be taught, but only in the context of an emergency preparedness class.

Facepalm.

What do you all think? Am I a Luddite for wanting to teach my daughter how to make capital letters look different from lower-case ones?

Yes, writing can be a artform. Calligraphy, for example, can turn a simple thankyou note into a note people want to keep. A nicely handwritten letter to a lover can be more expressive than saying the same thing on the phone. And how many would rather get an email with an amazon.com coupon from their parents than a birthday card with a $20 bill and a nice handwritten note of love and best wishes scrawled inside? :D

Mrs. Robb reminds me of the people in the holocaust (or Stepehn King, if you will) stories who die first for lack of basic survival smarts.

Teach her all you can at home, but call the district in the meantime. :hi:

The kiddo's almost four months old. ;)

Don't get me wrong, it's an intellectual exercise. I hope. :D

Boy is my face red! :blush:

They werent always typing everything down on those padds. I remember an episode or two where a character had to write using a pen and paper. So even in the 24th century they still learned to write!

writing will come easy if you do that right. as will painting. and thinking. and a well integrated brain.

:eyes:

It's a wonderful way to brighten someone's day

I have hate trying to read some bad handwriting.

There will always be a need to know how to write.

I used to work for a state agency that determined benefits for programs by use of computer. The computer did most of the rule-following and math - and spit out an answer that was correct most of the time. Well, when I went through training, I learned to do this manually, including the data entry. So, when our computers were down for an extended period of time, I was able to be somewhat productive, while my co-workers who hadn't been trained as I was, were stuck being useless. They were much further behind than I was when the computers came back online.

Even if it becomes an obsolete skill. It's still something she will have. More skills are always better than less.

I personally think that cursive is useless. Nobody can read anyone else's handwriting anyway, except the kind with the flowery loops and little hearts instead of dots over the lower case "i"s. Printing, however, is a necessary skill - period. How the fuck is she going to fill out a form if she can't print? Does Mrs. Robb get out her typewriter, carbon paper, and correction fluid for that? Does she carry it all with her when she goes to the DMV? Make her six stiff screwdrivers and teach your daughter this essential skill while your wife is passed out on the living room floor.

She is wrong.

If you truly want to send a personal note to someone and have them read it - and focus on it - then a paper letter is the ONLY way.

If you send an e-mail you're likely to be one of at least 50 that person might breeze through in ten minutes. And your very special note will be surrounded by ads for masculine and feminine 'enhancement' advertisements.

Stationery can be unique. Folks can carry the letters around and read them in a spare moment.

You can draw pictures or cartoons on them.

A good signature and good printing/handwriting can open unexpected doors. A lot of folks see the scrawl of a five year old and are horrified to see it comes from someone over 30. Get her good at printing.

you, like me, are a fuddy-duddy. :hi:

Mind-hand connections are central to the development of the brain. The more drawing and writing the better. This isn't about penmanship or becoming the next Leonardo Da Vinci.
Although, come to think of it, Leonardo was probably as smart as he was because he did so much drawing and writing!

looks good rather than juvenile and it's easier to accomplish:

Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting Series

http://www.cep.pdx.edu/titles/italic_series/index.shtml

Also interesting is this thread. :D Writing in general is still seen as important, yet everyone's sounding the death knells for traditional cursive.

...Can the buggy-whip be far behind? :rofl:

Thanks to being a drafter, I learned hand-printing back before computer-aided drafting and that's my normal handwriting now.

Here's a sample:

he says he owes it all to taking drafting in middle school.

no one can read my handwriting. When I use the Italic version, it's clean, clear and good looking.

... you are doing the right thing not teaching her to write. In a few years, when the child is old enough to learn to write, your wife will probably change her mind.

Hopefully her school will teach her.

Say that her estimate of 15-20 years is correct. Your daughter will be old enough to write in less than five years. Does Mrs. Robb really think that writing skill won't be need in 5 years? 10 years? Is your daughter supposed to get along without this skill until she's 15?

Wouldn't that embarrass the shit out of the kid a some point? Picture mean kids at school or some sort of event if home schooled "Hey, Robb ya stoopid don't know how to write. Or some such drivel. Mrs. Robb might think it a useless skill, but certain employers most certainly will.

edit for lack of grammer skills

Paper is here to stay

It's terrible. One the rare occasions that I do have to write,(writing a check) it takes me 5 minutes to do it and it still looks like crap.

One teacher said that they are not teaching cursive at some school. So these second graders don't know how to read longhand! Gawd, I fear for what we are becoming: libraries are threatening to close and becoming virtual cyber cafes as it is and kids are not being taught penmanship and how to add and multiply in their heads.

childish).

All children should know how to print their names (uh, and know their names!) when they enter Kindergarten.

I still wonder if some children are locked in a closet for the first five years of their lives!

I believe for me (so obviously it must be true for everyone!) that writing with a pen makes my brain work different than pounding on a keyboard. If i have something important I have to put into words, I will first use a pen and paper to write it often, because I feel like my train of thought gets cued up behind the pen and the words line up all in a row right up the arm and things tend to fall into order, or more closely the way I want them to, the first time.

Then I take that stuff and type it up and see what needs to be edited.

It's a good skill just like being able to balance your checkbook without a calculator.

a lot of writers work with pen and paper first, especially journals and brainstorming. Handwriting something makes it easier to get into the zone sometimes.

Oh, and 7000 people a year die because their pharmacists couldn't read the doctor's handwriting on the prescription.

So save a life... teach your kid how to write. It can't possibly take that long.

:)

Is she DAFT? :wow:

you stand the chance of depriving the child of a choice. The more choices we have, the better off we are, in my opinion.

What if your daughter wants to write a love letter one day? What if she wants to keep a handwritten journal? What if she's the next Cy Twombly (his gestural paintings are full of handwriting)? Where will she be without the ability to use basic communication tools?

and, her penmanship is neater than mine, too.